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tv   CNN Newsroom  CNN  March 1, 2014 7:00am-11:01am PST

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saturday smart. coming up on a brand new "your money" at 2:00 p.m. eastern, bulls, bears and black swans. the three key wards in investing today. why these creatures matter to your money. that's coming up at 2:00 p.m. eastern. first, "cnn newsroom" starts right now. so glad to have you with us. i'm christie paul. >> i'm victor blackwell. it is 10:00 in the east, 7:00 on the west coast. you are in the "cnn newsroom." we are beginning this morning with breaking news out of russia. we have a live look here for you at pictures from the russian parliament. it is just unanimously approved, president vladimir putin's request to send russian forces into ukraine. >> want to get the latest from cnn's frederick pleitgen in moscow. fred, what are you hearing? >> reporter: very significant vote that happened there in the upper house of russian parliament. the vote as you said was unanimous, 89 of them for for
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the motion, zero against. the big question now, vladimir putin has the authority to send russian forces into ukraine. the big question now is, is this something they have done in retrospect or are the russians going to start sending forces right now. as you know, there have been reports in the past i would say 18 to 24 hours, especially from the ukrainian government, who said the russians have already flown forces into the crimean, into southern ukraine, which is the predominantly russian territory of that country. they talk of up to 2,000 forces potentially even up to 6,000 forces that might already be on the ground there. and also, the regional government there which is also pro-russian, has said that russian forces that are part of a military base that russia has in that region anyway are already helping them secure government buildings in the main town, the capital of the crimea. the big question, is this happening in retrospect or will we see a big push of russian
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forces move towards ukraine. >> of course, this comes just hours after, maybe 18 hours after president obama warned russia against military intervention in ukraine. where do we foresee this going in the next couple of steps? i'm not asking you to pull out a crystal ball here, but the president's drawn sort of, without using the phrase, a red line and it seems that russia is prepared to cross it. >> reporter: yeah. the president very much in danger of walking, if you will, another red line trap, sort of similar to the syria chemical weapons complex, if we remember that. it's very difficult to tell. you are absolutely right. we're trying to pull out that crystal ball because anyone who would have told you five days ago that we would be where we are now in this conflict, you would have thought that he was crazy. so fast-moving and unpredictable at this point in time. what russian politicians are talking about, though, is they are talking about a very limited force that could be put on the ground there. as i've said, some already think
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that 2,000 additional russian forces might have already been placed on the ground but the vibe we're getting here from moscow is this is supposed to be a very limited operation. it's unclear how long it's supposed to take, unclear how many soldiers are supposed to participate. we also know that the russians are very much in a position to move forces into ukraine because they have a gigantic military exercise going on right next door that they started off right after viktor yanukovych, then the pro-russian president of ukraine, was ousted. it involves some 150,000 soldiers, 880 tanks and 120 helicopters. so they have a lot of assets close to the border. they can move them very quickly if they wanted to. the question is, are they going to do that or do they already have what they feel they need on the ground to do the job they want to do, which they claim is securing the area and they say is stabilizing the area. of course, the ukrainian government has a very different view. they call all of this illegal. they say it's a breach of their sovereignty and they are calling
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on russia to call its forces back. >> fred pleitgen, thank you so much. we appreciate it. the white house doesn't have a lot of options for tackling this crisis, necessarily. >> president obama said any meddling would have costs but we won't be starting a war with russia, nor did the white house kind of detail what those costs might be. so what will the white house and pentagon do while this goes on? >> cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr joining us by phone from washington. barbara, thank you for being with us. how's the pentagon handling this latest information we're getting? >> reporter: well, i have to tell you, for now the pentagon, very deliberately is staying very quiet about this, because frankly, there is no u.s. military option and the administration is making quite clear it doesn't want to put any u.s. military face on any of this. it's going to be diplomatic, economic, financial options that
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the administration is going to go after. but that is not to say that u.s. military, the u.s. intelligence community, isn't watching this minute by minute, because they are going to be watching what the russian military tactics are to try and figure out what the russians are really up to. they are going to be looking for the russians to establish supply lines, airfields that they can control, rail lines they can control. because if they want to move into ukraine, into crimea, in a larger more significant way, that is something that the russians will have to take some time to do. they put a lot of man power on the ground and resupply it and that's really an extended military operation. there are a lot of signals the u.s. will be watching for to figure out where this is going next. >> so we have seen these troops there in the crimean region.
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diana magnate is in that region and says she spoke with one of those troops and he identified himself as russian. if fighting starts between those in the ukraine near kiev who want to identify with the west and the crimean region and russian troops who want to stay with russia or return to the russian federation, what's the likelihood of that and what would then be the u.s. response? there has to be some response more than there will be costs. >> reporter: yeah. well, you know, that is the big question right now. look, it would be just disastrous of course for the people of ukraine, the people of crimea and for stability in that region of europe. can nato step in diplomatically? there is talk about the u.n. security council. but of course, russia can veto that. somebody, i think most people believe that the road to solving this goes, you know, right to
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what vladimir putin has in mind. it's been to some very large extent, his call. but for the russian military, there would also be a military cost to an extended, large, significant operation, as they would move through various areas of ukraine, they will find people who do not support them and we have seen in so many countries in recent years how rapidly basically insurgencies can break out. people band together when they have forces in their country that they don't like, outside forces. no reason to think that wouldn't start happening in ukraine as well. so you know, i think that's the case the u.s. is trying to make. this could escalate so significantly, so quickly, and nobody wants to see that happen. >> barbara starr, thank you so much for walking us through what's happening in washington. we appreciate it. >> the russian parliament unanimous vote approving the use of military force in ukraine,
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that's the latest development in this breaking news. it comes just hours, as we said, after the white house warned russia to pull back. president obama said there will be consequences if russia uses military force. >> we are now deeply concerned by reports of military movements taken by the russian federation inside of ukraine. russia has a historic relationship with ukraine, including cultural and economic ties and a military facility in crimea. but any violation of ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity would be deeply destabilizing. the united states will stand with the international community in affirming that there will be costs for any military intervention in ukraine. >> so let's talk about this with cnn senior political analyst david gergen. thank you for being with us. we know parliament has approved putin's request for military force now in ukraine. does it seem he's purposely
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defying obama and the u.s.? >> absolutely. it's a thumb in the eye. within 24 hours after the president issued a warning, president putin has gone and gotten authorization to use force. doesn't mean he will, but it's a very provocative act, and while it's wise for the pentagon to keep a low profile in all of this, as barbara starr just reported, this is a moment when the white house has to be mobilizing the international community, especially our main co-partner here, angela merkel in germany. but others in western europe, to make it very clear to mr. putin that if he does move like this, there are going to be consequences starting with economic consequences, and we need to start laying those out pretty darned fast. >> so let me ask you this. i have asked this question of others from other angles viewing this breaking news. is there any scenario in which you see that the crimean region which wants to, many of the people who live there have an
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affinity towards russia, will be folded into the russian federation and what's left will become ukraine? legally, beyond just, you know, what we're seeing now, the crimean region will move back into the russian federation? >> i think that's not only possible but likely. that's a scenario we seem to be seeing the early stages of. as you know, there is a vote now scheduled and ukraine, on march 30th, that they can establish a breakaway state. whether it will be recognized by the government in kiev is a different question. but the russians will be able to claim and crimeans will be able to claim look, there are such votes taking place in the west, there's a vote by scotland coming up to establish an independent state. so they can claim there's a lot of precedent. but i think the larger issue is this now. the president has two major i think objectives here. one is to ensure that international law and norms are respected and that is you don't invade the sovereignty of
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another country, which the russians are perilously close to doing. the other is his own reputation. there is a perception, fairly or not, that president putin has out-muscled him on more than one occasion, with regard to edward snowden, giving him asylum in effect, putting a thumb in the eye of the united states, and also then on syria, and the president does not want to look as if he's issued yet another red line, yet another warning, and then nothing happens. as one expert put it the other day, you can't bring a baguette into a knife fight. putin is carrying a knife. >> okay. david gergen, stick with us. we have more questions for you. we have to take a quick break. if you're just joining us, we are covering the breaking news out of russia this morning where the russian parliament has just approved the use of military force in ukraine. so much more ahead with our experts and reporters in the region. stay close.
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welcome back to "cnn newsroom." if you're just joining us, we are covering the breaking news out of russia. earlier this morning, president vladimir putin asked parliament to approve use of military force in ukraine and have just unanimously approved that use of force. on the phone, we have chief national security correspondent jim sciutto. jim, what is this very quick vote signal to you? >> reporter: i think it's the russians slow rolling an invasion of sovereign ukrainian territory, and in direct defiance of repeated public and stern warnings from u.s.
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officials ranging from secretary kerry, secretary hagel right up to the top, right up to the president. you saw his comments yesterday. it is a sobering development. the fact is, u.s. officials were already telling us yesterday that those masked troops on the ground as of yesterday in and around crimea were russian so now you have a public in effect acknowledgment from the russian government that the president wants to send troops in there, this authorization. i think the other point is that you can see this as an intelligence failure by the u.s. officials had been telling us in the last 48, 72 hours that it was their assessment that the russians would not go in, and here you have it happening. it is not the way they did it in georgia in 2008. you remember when russia sent troops into the country of georgia in 2008 in a more sort of visible, tangible invasion,
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tanks rolling across the border. there are no tanks rolling across the border but you do have a public authorization of force and more of maybe you can call it a stealth invasion, perhaps. you have the helicopters coming in, the troops so far without insignias on their uniform. this is a very sobering development and it goes right up against very public policy of the u.s. not to do this. >> so jim, let me ask you real quickly, this has happened so fast, just in the last, what, hour, hour and a half at this point. how quickly will we hear from the president, do you think? >> reporter: it's a good question. i think i'm certainly waiting for that. yesterday's announcement came with very little warning. i think we were hearing about 15 minutes before it happened. if you do hear from the president or other senior u.s. officials, that will happen very quickly as well. >> jim sciutto, we appreciate your input. thank you very much. >> reporter: thank you. >> let's bring back david gergen with us as we continue this conversation of the russian parliament's decision to approve president putin's request to
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send troops into the ukraine. i've got this report here of several thousand pro-russia protesters rallying in an eastern ukrainian city and activists saying, this is a quote, our territory should become part of what used to be the soviet union. that is what we demand and that's why we're here. how soon could we see potentially what we saw in independence square in kiev in the crimean region? >> i think we have already seen the parliament and the governmental buildings and the crimean area taken over by these pro-russian forces, and i think we could see, you know, i think what's unfolding is a very clear attempt to grab the crimea out of this. what president putin is looking for is in effect a second best solution. he wanted all of ukraine in his
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orbit. he wanted to break them away from the europeans and this is second best for him. but he's doing it in such a way, it's coming perilously close to drawing in the international community. i think one of the things that the americans must do now, the u.s. government must do, is to caution kiev don't fall into the trap of sending troops in to try to save the crimean. that will bring the russian troops in. that's what did happen in georgia six years ago, that in effect, the russians laid a trap. they haven't gone in yet. there has been no large invasion yet. but it could invite kiev to use counterforce in order to protect the crimea and that will then justify the russians to go in. we want to avoid that. that's why i think this is an extremely complicated but extraordinarily important that the west act quickly. it is putin who keeps acting quickly and we keep being a little hesitant, little uncertain of where we're going. we need to pull our act together
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here and make it clear that there are consequences and spell out some of those starting with the economic. there may be bigger consequences. john mccain, for example, is more hawkish on this. he wants to go immediately to military type action, not troops on the ground, but military type actions, bringing in georgia and nato and the rest. i think the president is not going to do that but i do think he's got to make it clear, economic sanctions will follow and there are going to be tough things that will happen. >> let me ask you if there are any questions as we try to assess the motives here of putin. when i was reading what the request that he gave to the kremlin, he said he was asking for forces of the russian federation on ukraine territory until normalization of that political situation in that area. are there fears at all that he doesn't just have his sights on the crimean area but perhaps to
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push past that border as well further into ukraine? >> i think there are some legitimate fears that he would want to go and move into eastern ukraine. not western, which is very pro-european, pro-west, but that eastern part of that country, which the previous government, the government that has been ousted, was elected from. they have a lot of votes in there, they have a lot of support, lot of russian-speaking ethnic people there. so yeah, i think he does have his sights on something bigger. and we have to start with the proposition that mr. putin is not like some western democratically elected leader. he's former kgb and is a thug. he is anyplace with trenchants. he has a view of power. that's what's important to him. he's trying to save the honor of what he sees as the former ussr, the former kremlin, and he's emerging as a strong guy. he plays by somewhat different rules than we do, and we have to
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stop him before he keeps moving like this. >> david gergen, thank you so much for all of your insight. good to have you here. >> thank you. if you're just joining us, we are covering the breaking news out of russia this morning. russian parliament has just approved the use of military force in ukraine. we have much more from our experts and reporters there in the region still ahead. stay with us. aflac. ♪ aflac, aflac, aflac! ♪ [ both sigh ] ♪ ugh! ♪ you told me he was good, dude. yeah he stinks at golf. but he was great at getting my claim paid fast. how fast? mine got paid in 4 days. wow. that's awesome. is that legal? big fat no. [ male announcer ] find out how fast aflac can pay you
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california has gone from no rain, now to way too much rain. the state is getting torrential downpours leading to dangerous mud slides. look at this. it desperately needs the rain, of course, after what is the worst drought in 100 years. >> yeah, but that's what happens when it gets inundated with water like that. the ground's so dry and some areas are getting as much as six inches of rain and that causes mud slides and flooding. let's get to meteorologist karen mcguinness in our severe weather center here at cnn. will they get a really big drenching today? >> it looks like this next 24 hours is when the bulk of the rainfall will materialize but it could come down heavy and hard, bring down trees and power lines like we have seen all the way
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from san francisco bay area. we don't talk a lot about that because we have been so focused on what's happening this weekend in southern california, but san francisco saw record rainfall totals in the past 24 hours, and for phoenix, they are looking at the first rainfall that they've seen in 70 days. but this is not where this system is, but by the way, it looks like once this moves through, it's going to be a pretty dry spell at least for the next four or five days, but it's going to take another 24 to 36 hours for that to materialize. this will gather strength across the interior west and starting for tomorrow in the midwest, then go into the ohio river valley, then to the northeast by monday, winter is not giving up just yet. more snow is in the forecast, new york city could see four to eight inches on the way. victor, christie? >> thank you very much. still to come in "newsroom" we have breaking news this
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breaking news right now in the "cnn newsroom." russia's parliament gives president vladimir putin the green light to send troops into ukraine's crimea region. we have live pictures here. this is russia's parliament. the lawmakers unanimously approved mr. putin's request for troops just a short time ago. >> ukraine says thousands of russian troops have already moved into crimea and it wants them out. cnn's ian lee joins us from the ukrainian capital of kiev. what's the reaction you're hearing at this hour? >> reporter: well, we actually just got word from the officials here in kiev and they said that this move by the russian parliament is a direct
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aggression toward the sovereignty of ukraine, and these are words that we have heard over the past couple of days, yesterday as well, saying that the russian movements into the crimea is direct aggression and occupation of the area. these words seem to be falling on deaf ears when it comes to moscow. i want to take you away from crimea for a second. this, what we're seeing there, seems to have emboldened other parts of the east of ukraine. we're looking at a place, the second largest city, karkov. we are seeing pro-russian supporters, protesters, squaring off with pro-west, pro-european protesters. 68 people have been injured and those clashes, when pro-russian protesters tried to take an administration building there in that city. now, this area has been traditionally a more russian-aligned area, russian-aligned city. they have close economic ties.
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what we're also seeing in another city, we're hearing that pro-russian protesters are also taking to the streets there. so really, what we're seeing starting in the crimea seems to be spreading to other parts of eastern ukraine. >> ian lee in kiev. continue to watch that and we'll check back. thank you. just yesterday, president obama said the situation that russian parliament has just approved, applying its own military force in the ukraine, was not something that the u.s. would stand for. >> any violation of ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity would be deeply destabilizing, which is not in the interest of ukraine, russia or europe. it would represent a profound interference in matters that must be determined by the ukrainian people. >> joining us to discuss, democratic strategist robert zimmerman and cnn political commentator and columnist for the blaze, will kane.
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thank you for being with us. did russia just call our bluff? does the u.s. look small on the world stage at this point? >> look, russia didn't call just our bluff. russia called the european community's bluff. let's understand, what they have engaged in is not an effort to make us look small. they've gone back to really what vladimir putin represents. he's a thug. these are the tactics of the old russia, what russia represents, and he will continue to isolate himself from the world stage after he's made so many measures to try to ingratiate himself around the world. >> will, how much of what we're watching right now and these things are changing so quickly that it's tough to know what it will be like in 24 hours instead of six or eight months, but how much can that play into party politics here in the u.s., especially as we head to the midterms? >> well, you know, i hope it doesn't play too much into politics. we don't want to filter these things through a political angle although it's worth mentioning,
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war in and of itself, the potential for war, military conflict, is a political issue. ultimately what i mean by that is we as the people decide the proper course of action by who we put in office and our referendum on it. what i would say is this regarding president obama's stance on the ukraine right now, specifically the crimea. we need to talk about it in terms of the crimea because putin is losing. a year ago he was playing for the entire country of ukraine. now he's fighting for crimea. i heard your report just now, perhaps eastern ukraine. i would say this. don't write checks, don't let your mouth write checks that your butt does not want to cash. we need to ask ourselves, do we want to intervene in the ukraine. we learned a hard lesson, president obama learned a hard lesson a year or so ago in syria, when he set false red lines that he did not believe and we as a nation did not want to back up. then what did we look like on the world stage. we looked like people that did not back up their word. when it comes to ukraine, vladimir putin already doesn't believe us. so don't say something, don't set a red line, don't set a
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course of action that you do not want to follow through with. >> this issue is so much bigger than just neocon partisan talking points. let's remember it was president obama and secretary kerry's leadership that put extreme sanctions upon iran that it brought them to the bargaining table and there is progress being made there. let's also keep in mind yes, there's no question, this administration is stumbling on occasion as they are in syria. we need to do more there for the refugees. i would rather stumble towards trying to create effective negotiations than do what we did during the bush administration which was stumble into war. [ speaking simultaneously ] >> it's exhausting to be accused of neocon talking points. all i said is you acknowledge geopolitical realities and your words carry meaning. your words have repercussions. we need to be measured. i have not said president obama made a false or wrong statement on ukraine but we know that that happened a year or two ago.
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just don't make the same mistake twice. >> let's talk more about this. we will keep you all, stay where you are. we have to take a real quick break. we'll be right back. i can download anything i want. [ girl ] seriously? that's a lot of music. seriously. that's insane. and it's 15 bucks a month for the family. seriously? that's a lot of gold rope. seriously, that's a signature look. you don't have a signature look, honey. ♪ that's a signature look. [ male announcer ] only at&t brings you beats music. unlimited downloads for up to 5 accounts and 10 devices all for $14.99 a month. ♪ all for $14.99 a month. now you can create your own perfecat olive garden, with our new cucina mia menu, for just $9.99. choose the homemade sauce that tempts you the most. like our addictively creamy garlic asiago, devilishly spicy diavolo or garden-fresh primavera with roasted vegetables. all made from scratch and made to order. served with your choice of our new artisinal pastas
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if you're just joining us, we're covering the breaking news out of russia this morning. the russian parliament approved the use of military force in ukraine. we're back with more political analysis now. democratic strategist robert
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zimmerman and cnn political commentator and columnist for the blaze, will kane. i want to start with you, robert. the conversation we were having just before the break, will said the u.s. should back up its words. when the president says something at that bully pulpit, it should mean something. i want you to grade for us what you view or how you think the president performed yesterday. he kind of in some ways just reiterated what secretary kerry had already said, what samantha powers had said, there will be costs and he will stand with the international community. what does that even mean, and after putin hears it, is there any real threat there at all? >> well, that's the most important point that you're raising. i thought the president's comments yesterday were on target because they were very deliberate and very measured. now he's got to, as this process moves forward, make it clear publicly as i'm sure they are doing privately, that actions can include economic sanctions, building stronger ties with our european allies to isolate putin. no one wants to buy russian
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products. maybe boycotting the g-8 summit in sochi would be a major stick against russia. so there are many steps we can take economically in terms of building coalitions. that will define our effectiveness and the president has to lay it out promptly, i think. >> so will, who are -- when we look, we were just talking earlier today, too, about how the president announced yesterday or told cnn, somebody in his camp, that he wouldn't attend the g-8 if this was still going on because they are due to be in sochi, the g-8, in june. what kind of support does the u.s. have amongst our g-8 members? >> i think everybody right now is in the same boat. if you look at statements from the uk or the french, they are all taking these very measured approaches to the ukraine. which what i am telling you is the right thing to do. i don't think the united states has a strong national security interest to get involved in ukraine. i'm not suggesting that our words should then back us into military or even economic sanctions on russia in that
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region. what i'm saying is you need to realize that your actions and your words should match up. right now, some are accusing president obama's words and actions in ukraine of being weak. i don't think so. i don't think we have a national security interest in ukraine. i want him to continue to be measured. i am suggesting i do not want him to make the same mistake he made in syria. >> okay, guys, thank you so much. >> thank you so much. we have to move on to the next element here. it has been a morning full of breaking news. thank you for your perspective. there is more breaking news. >> according to reuters, russia's upper house of parliament is asking president vladimir putin to recall the russian ambassador to the u.s. just a short time ago, the upper house unanimously okayed mr. putin's request to send troops into ukraine's crimea region. this has all been just so fluid today, happening within a couple of hours. barbara starr is in washington right now. barbara, what do you make of this latest call to bring back
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the ambassador in the u.s., russian ambassador to the u.s.? >> reporter: well, you know, in these situations, what the u.s. wants is some stability and deescalation. every one of these steps is now clearly escalating the crisis and it makes it very difficult to pull back from a security and stability point of view. you get to a point in these crises where everybody steps so far ahead and engages in these steps, it becomes very difficult to pull back. this is what the u.s. concern is. this is what the u.s. security concern is. so i think what we're dealing with is something both very fast-moving and the unpredictability of it. i have to tell you for the last several days, both u.s. intelligence officials, pentagon officials, state department officials, white house officials, let's just call it across the board, have been
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watching russian movements very carefully. they didn't want to talk about it publicly but we know, you know, that they were watching them minute by minute, sometimes on tv to see what they were doing and sometimes through other sources to try and determine intelligence sources, what the russians were up to, what their motivations were, what they might do next. they always worried for the last several days that the russians would engage in the small tactical movements into crimea, but now, it has become much broader, much more significant, and the russian military as we've talked about earlier this morning, if they are going to be ordered to engage in a more widespread, deeper, long-lasting military operation, this becomes very significant. they have to have the airfields, the rail lines, the resupply, and they are going to have to have the ability to deal with
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those who will oppose them and that suggests they will be ready for conflict, and that could not be more significant. >> barbara, last week the president said that he didn't view the conflict in ukraine between the pro-western demonstrators and moscow-backed leadership and now moscow itself, as an extension of the competition between the u.s. and russia via the cold war era, but now with the parliament agreeing to pull the russian ambassador out of the u.s., we heard from senator mccain that he believes that vladimir putin sees this as an extension of the cold war. are we looking at an extension from the characteristics we're watching of cold war tactics? >> reporter: well, i mean, hard to say because the question is where will this go. where is the line right now today, as we speak, between
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russian political rhetoric, the parliamentary votes, the rhetoric, calling back the ambassador from russia, and where does that rhetorical political line cross into real action by the russians. the u.s. view i think it is fair to say had always been for the last several weeks that putin would move to demonstrate muscle power, to send a signal to both the west and to ukraine that russia was a player and that russia would move to protect its vital interests that it saw in ukraine. all of that basically is rhetoric. if putin is now going to move to an extended political and potential military confrontation with ukraine and the west potentially, then it becomes -- it becomes very difficult.
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as we talked about earlier, what do they do about it. nato has no intention of doing anything militarily. most nato countries are still trying to get themselves extricated from afghanistan. they have very small military budgets, very small military forces. this is a challenge to nato. this is a challenge to the alliance that was formed in europe to basically challenge the old soviet union. it's a direct challenge to nato. can they work through the united nations? russia's on the security council. it can veto anything that the united nations would vote on. they say there's going to be diplomatic action and diplomatic pressure. hard to see what levers can be pulled to accomplish that. but already, the u.s. has said it may not go to the g-8 economic summit. there are financial international implications here,
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financial steps the west may try and take. it's very fast-moving. it's very difficult to predict. >> barbara starr, thank you so much, from washington for us, pentagon reporter. we have more live coverage of the breaking news in the ukraine when we return. ♪ ♪ ♪ ben! ♪ [ train whistle blows ] oh, that was close. you ain't lying. let quicken loans help you save your money with a mortgage that's engineered to amaze. purina dog chow light & healthy let quicken loans help you save your money is a deliciously tender and crunchy kibble blend. with 20% fewer calories than purina dog chow. isn't it time you discovered the lighter side of dog chow. purina dog chow light & healthy.
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if you're just joining us, we are covering the breaking news from ukraine, and russia this morning. two breaking news stories, developments in this ongoing story, in just the last hour to 90 minutes. first, reuters is reporting that president putin has asked the russian parliament to approve a plan that would pull the russian ambassador to the u.s. back to moscow. the second element happened earlier today, when president putin asked the russian parliament to approve a plan to send troops into the crimean region of the ukraine. let's put up the map just to understand where this region is, and why this is so crucial. >> we should point out, too, that that second -- that first request earlier today to send forces into crimea was granted. and it happened very, very quickly amongst parliament members. so we could hear very quickly as well based on reuters' report about the ambassador to the u.s. as well. >> it was unanimous, 89 in
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favor, none opposed. but you see that red area there? that is part of ukraine. however, in that portion of the country, it's filled with russian-speaking ukrainians. they feel closer aligned to russia while the rest of the ukraine feels an affinity for the west. so we see here why that region is so important. we will talk more about what we're hearing from german officials this morning from twitter and how they could play a role in what happens moving forward. >> stay close. we have more for you in just a moment. there's a lot of foods and drinks that have acids in them. raspberries, strawberries, working at your enamel, once it's gone, you can't get it back. i would recommend using pronamel. pronamel will help to reharden the enamel, i use that every day, twice a day, and i know that i am protected. did you run into traffic? no, just had to stop by the house to grab a few things. you stopped by the house? uh-huh. yea. alright, whenever you get your stuff, run upstairs, get cleaned up for dinner. you leave the house in good shape? yea. yea, of course. ♪ [ sportscaster talking on tv ] last-second field go--
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just a short time ago. >> ukraine says thousands of russian troops have already moved into crimea. it wants them out. there is also this. according to reuters, russia's upper house of parliament is asking president vladimir putin to recall the russian ambassador to the u.s. just a short time ago, the upper house unanimously okayed that request to send troops into ukraine's crimea region. we are talking 89-0, unanimous. the approval came despite warnings from washington not to intervene. so a big part of the question now that we're watching is how will the u.s. respond and how quickly, because all of this this morning has happened really within the last 90 minutes. >> i think part of the question is after president obama made that speech yesterday in the briefing room at the white house, what will these costs that he mentioned, that if russia invades the sovereignty of ukraine, what will the costs be. there are other of course members of the g-8 the president said that the u.s. -- not the
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president, senior white house officials told jim acosta the president would not be going to the g-8 in june if this is still going on. >> the g-8 is in sochi. >> yes, in sochi, in russia there. we have this from frank walter steinmeyer, the german foreign minister. he tweeted this morning on the situation in crimea, whoever pours more oil on the fire now is consciously aiming for further escalation. what russia does in crimea must be keeping with sovereignty and territorial integrity of ukraine. so the question here is, should the president lead this discussion or should angela merkel lead this discussion, considering the relationship between president obama and putin versus the relationship between putin and merkel. >> exactly. we've had a lot of people on this morning talking about the fact that the u.s. does not see this as a cold war but they believe putin does, and that he has putin is really working to show that he is strong, to show his strength.
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the question is, what is the u.s. going to be able to do about this. we are going to obviously continue to follow this throughout the morning. thank you so much for spending your morning with us. don't go away. >> be sure to keep it right here. we continue with our breaking news coverage in the "cnn newsroom." we hand it over to deborah feyerick. thanks so much. a lot happening, all eyes on that part of the world. thanks, everyone. the 11:00 hour of "newsroom" starts right now. we start with breaking news. russia's parliament has now approved the use of military force in ukraine right after russian president vladimir putin asked for it. reuters reports that parliament urged putin to recall the russian ambassador from the united states. everything moving very, very quickly. it is sparking major concern in the u.s. and the european union. president obama said yesterday ukraine's sovereignty should not be violated, and he had this warning for russia.
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>> any violation of ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity will be deeply destabilizing, which is not in the interest of ukraine, russia or europe. the united states will stand with the international community in affirming that there will be costs for any military intervention in ukraine. >> russia's latest move comes after a new pro-russian leader took power in crimea, a primarily russian region of the ukraine. he asked for russia's help in maintaining peace. ukraine has been very unstable since its parliament voted president viktor yanukovych out last week, highlighting a deep division in the country between russian supporters and european union supporters. it took the russian parliament all of about 15 minutes, just 15 minutes, to approve the use of military force in ukraine today. we just heard what president obama had to say about the
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consequences of military action. what options does that leave him? let me bring in elise labbot and james "spider" marks. first of all, what vladimir putin has done, is that essentially declaring war on the ukraine? >> i don't know if it's a legal definition of war but it's clearly an invasion of a sovereign country by another sovereign country. to describe crimea as a separate region of ukraine is important for us to highlight for a second, crimea is a part of ukraine, part of the sovereign nation of ukraine. irrespective of the fact crimea has its own premier which is a bit odd for us to get our arms around. so the key issue is, vladimir putin has a real strong interest in maintaining integrity and complete control over a naval warm water port in crimea which is the home of the black sea fleet which russia has, and it's
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the only warm water port that russia has. every other port that russia has right now is covered in ice. so it's very, very important. number one is he's got to control the port. i think what happens in the greater ukraine is the subsequent discussion that we need to have and that has a lot of moving parts to it right now. >> one of the things, just so we can reset and elise, i will get to you in just one moment but general, what is the strategic importance of this region to the united states and its interests in that part of the world? >> well, primarily, the united states has a very long-standing interest in the eastern mediterranean. when you look at the map, the black sea where this port is located, you've got to transit, go through turkey, now you're into the mediterranean. so the united states has a very large presence specifically out of naples with the u.s. navy sixth fleet. we have very large air force both in germany and italy so this is within our sphere of
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influence. however, within the black sea itself, russia would say that is their territorial waters. it's not. however, the united states would not for a second transit and put any type of military presence into the black sea. that would be analagous to putting very valuable kit into a bathtub. there's no way out. the u.s. has to have a standoff, has to have a presence. it's a reconnaissance mission right now to make sure we have a really good sense of what's going on. >> do you think the u.s. could put ships there to make sure the lanes are kept open so there is access into and out of that region? >> deborah, that happens as a matter of routine right now. yes. >> okay. so elise, in terms of what is happening in washington, what are you seeing? are president obama's words enough? >> well, it depends what president obama has to put his words into action and the answer is not much. we've heard a little bit about some of the possible options
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that the u.s. wouldn't attend the g-8 in sochi, russia, which the russians have been spending a lot of money, obviously sochi is a real important part of the country that president putin wants to show the world. he could boycott that but clearly president putin knows that and has made the calculation that he doesn't care. this is not a game for him. this is what we call in diplomatic reporting, real poli-teeth in terms of he understands some of the possible punitive measures in addition to the g-8. the u.s. and russia even this week were talking about deepening economic and trade ties. obviously that would be on hold. obviously the ukraine is important enough to president putin that he's made the calculation that he can withstand that. it's really not clear what influence the u.s. has here and also, president obama is mindful of what happened with syria. he talked a lot of tough talk, a lot of rhetoric, and wasn't able in the end to put his words into action with any strong punitive
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measures. so i think right now, the u.s. wants to be very measured in how it responds and make sure this doesn't escalate any further. >> general, during the olympics, the u.s. did have ships in the black sea. so is there the possibility that they could begin to position the sixth fleet which is in that region closer up north to that area? is the u.s. at that point just now? >> i can guarantee you that the pentagon and the joint chiefs, the secretary of defense right now are going through all the scenarios and the options for the use of force. clearly, it's premature for us to even talk about the use of force. however, it is a possible outcome and needs to be planned, and it is what i would describe very robust detail. so a lot of options are out there. clearly, the united states as a first order would have to have what's known as a command and control type capability so if a decision was made to apply force, it's going to be a joint
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force. all the services and the different combat and commands will be involved and it will require some element that will allow you to tie it all together. that's taking place right now in terms of discussions in what's known as warning orders, in order to posture us, to make sure we're prepared. but all this is premature because there are other elements of power that have to be addressed and have to be exhausted. if the united states has declared and determined that this is in their national interest to get involved in some way, or to simply allow this to play out, identify that the russians are interested in crimea, they are interested in the port, we will discuss the rest of ukraine later. >> we have a lot more to discuss. we will bring both of you back in just a moment. we are going to turn directions a little bit. the russian parliament just approved the use of military force about an hour ago. putin said that it was needed to normalize the political situation there. frederick pleitgen joins us live from moscow. fred, you're there. what is putin trying to do?
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>> reporter: well, he certainly was trying to get the backing of his parliament to send those additional forces to ukraine. that is something that happened as you said unanimously. it was interesting because there was a big political buildup to this. there were members of the russian parliament who said earlier today that they feel that russia does need to deploy troops to the crimean region. the big questions that people are asking right now is first of all, is this something this parliamentary approval that's being done in retrospect or are those russian forces already on the ground. you will recall that the ukrainian government over the past 24 hours has been saying that the russians have already moved thousands of soldiers into the crimean peninsula so the big question is are they doing this in retrospect or are they going to move troops in, more troops in, from now and if so, the second question is how many forces would they move in. at this point it's unclear. there are people in parliament who are saying this would be a limited incursion but there are also others who said according
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to the interfax news agency that any sort of deployments, the numbers of troops would be up to president putin. so right now, we are still trying to read the crystal ball. it's absolutely impossible to say what the russians are going to do next. certainly anybody who would have said five days ago that we would be where we are right now in this ukraine crisis, most people would have thought he was crazy but events are moving so quickly, it's very difficult to determine what the russians are going to do next. >> what's interesting is that you look at ukraine, you look at crimea, you now have two different governments. the ukraine -- the government in ukraine is very pro-european union, pro-western. in crimea, it is very pro-russian and there has been a huge question who are these forces, these camouflaged masked forces who swept into crimea, who took over the airports, who set up these road blockades and there's still a question if not russia, then who. >> reporter: well, certainly, it
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seems to me as though there is no other explanation than that all of this was orchestrated by russia. i was actually on the ground in the crimea when all of this started, the uprising on the part of the russian population which is the majority there, of course. what happened initially is that they took over a couple towns, they installed new mayors and in every single one of those, the local security forces, the police, worked together with the pro-russian demonstrators so it was absolutely clear where their loyalties were. then what happened was that these gunmen all of a sudden started to appear out of nowhere. many people believed right from the start that these were russian forces. some people went into parliament, sacked the local prime minister of crimea, who was installed by viktor yanukovych, someone who was sort of loyal to the government in kiev, and basically started this new pro-russian administration. but judging by how well organized all of this was, the forces that are on the ground, the discipline of those on the
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ground, and their clear mission to further russia's cause, there really can't be any other explanation than that this was at least in large part orchestrated by the russian government rather than any sort of local forces on the ground. >> no dancing around that one. fred pleitgen, we will ask you to stand by. we have a lot more coming up on this. we will be shedding light. coming up, the broader implications of the ukraine crisis. is president obama being pulled or bullied by vladimir putin? that's coming up next in the "newsroom." mine was earned in korea in 1953. afghanistan, in 2009. orbiting the moon in 1971. [ male announcer ] once it's earned, usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection. and because usaa's commitment to serve current and former military members and their families
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we're following all the developments in ukraine right now. the u.n. security council holding emergency talks on the situation in ukraine today. comes after the russian parliament approved military
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action in ukraine. russia reporting also that russian parliament wants president putin to recall russia's ambassador to the u.s. we are going to go back to elise labott at the pentagon. tell us, the u.n., nato, what can they do about this? >> there is very little the u.n. can do, because as you know, russia has a veto, as a permanent member on the u.n. security council so it's really a forum where they can discuss these issues and again, put a little bit of diplomatic pressure condemnation on the russians but in terms of actually having any effect, it's really unclear. it looks like between the u.s. and the europeans, that's where the center of diplomatic activity will be. as far as nato is concerned, it doesn't look like nato is talking about any type of intervention. i haven't heard anything of that sort. but there has been an interesting relationship with ukraine over the last several years. ukraine wants obviously to be part of nato, wants to be part of the european union, so there
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could of verbal t, diplomatic a but in terms of any type of firm military intervention, i don't see that in the offing. >> let's talk about this move to potentially recall russia's ambassador to the united states. isn't that really a signal that they want a break in diplomatic relations, that they're not willing to talk about russia's actions in ukraine? >> well, let's be clear that yes, it's a signal, it's a very important symbolic diplomatic move, but most of the real intense discussions go on between washington and moscow, whether it's the u.s. ambassador on the ground there or talks between secretary kerry and foreign minister lavrov, who have a very close relationship and they speak quite often. the ambassador to the united states comes into the state department certainly, but that's not where the real hard diplomatic messages are given. i would expect with this, for secretary kerry, to become a lot
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more involved. >> okay. let's turn to fred pleitgen, who is there. how does russia look at all of this? the u.n., nato. do they feel that there are consequences or do they feel there's just a lot of talk right now? >> reporter: well, i think first of all, i don't think they are very impressed with the potential consequences. i'm sure they listened to what president obama had to say last night, saying that there will be consequences if indeed they move forces into russia. it doesn't seem as though that's left much of an impression with vladimir putin even though you have these members of parliament in the russian parliament saying they now need to recall their ambassador. that's more diplomatic saber rattling. there really aren't many options that the u.s. has at this point in time to stop the russians from doing all this. but the russians are clearly sending a very, very obvious message saying the crimean is a place that for us is very, very
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important, it's a red line although that word is obviously very tainted internationally right now, but it is something where they are not going to negotiate. they feel that their vital interests are at stake there, not just because they have 25,000 military personnel on the ground there. it's an important naval port for them but they also have the families of the soldiers on the ground there and many people who are russian citizens and who see themselves as russians. we also have to keep in mind that vladimir putin is also playing to a domestic audience here in russia as well. if anything happens in the crimean, if ukrainian security forces were to move in there, if they were to clash with russian protesters and russians would die there, in the crimean, he would certainly look like a very weak leader here in russia if he hadn't done anything about it. certainly russia would not be able to stay on the sidelines and we would probably see an even larger intervention in ukraine than the one we will possibly see now. it's a very delicate situation for the russian government that's unfolding right now.
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they are trying to manage this in some way, shape or form, but they clearly are sending a very direct message that this is of the utmost importance to them no matter what the international community says in terms of condemnation. >> fred, you were there, you saw that sort of systematic entry into crimea, how those forces, even though they were unidentified at the time, kind of swept in, took over, got into the government buildings, raised the russian flags there. does ukraine have the strength, the forces, the same kind of trained troops, to intervene if they need to, or is this not a fair fight necessarily? >> reporter: it certainly wouldn't be a fair fight at all. the ukrainians don't have the means to defend themselves against the russians. it certainly would be the case that if the ukrainians did try to stop the russians from doing this and did try to maybe take back these government buildings, take down some of these roadblocks, that they would have a very difficult time and that
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fight certainly wouldn't last very long. but it's interesting how all of this unfolded because it was something that seemed very well stage managed. what you had at the beginning is you had some mayors taking over towns there and then all of a sudden, roadblocks were set up. interestingly enough, this is a very interesting sort of sidebar, the first roadblocks that were set up in the crimean peninsula were set up by a biker gang called the night wolves which is known to be the favorite biker gang of vladimir putin. he visits their meetings all the time, he knows the head of that biker gang very, very well, and that's how everything started. they were collaborating with the local police forces, then everything got bigger and bigger. so clearly, the russians from the get-go were stage managing a lot of this and now it seems as though they are poised to enter this territory in an even bigger way. but certainly, there isn't very much the ukrainians are going to be able to do about it. there wasn't very much from the get-go. it seemed that the local security forces were collaborating with those who were setting up the checkpoints and the few forces the
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ukrainians have on the ground there certainly would be no match for anything that russia could field, especially since they have 150,000 soldiers close to the border with ukraine that are conducting a military exercise right now. to put that into perspective for our viewers, 150,000 troops is about what the u.s. had on the ground in iraq at the height of the iraq war during the surge in baghdad. that's the amount of force ukraine sees close to its borders right now. >> so clearly, such a key region, ukraine and crimea, an integral part of russia's sphere of influence. fred, stand by. we are going to take a break. when we come back, more of our live coverage of this breaking news. are the u.s. and russia headed for what could be a new cold war? ameriprise asked people a simple question: in retirement, will you outlive your money? uhhh. no, that can't happen. that's the thing, you don't know how long it has to last.
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russia's parliament has approved the use of military force in ukraine. many are wondering what washington will do. the president, the congress, the u.s. military. amy holmes is a conservative commentator and news anchor for the blaze.com. kiki mclean is a democratic strategist who worked for bill and hillary clinton's campaigns and in the clinton white house. kiki, you first. is putin bullying barack obama, putting the proverbial thumb in his eye? >> well, i have to tell you, i
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do think there are people who are better equipped to go through the psychological profile of putin and what he means and doesn't mean by this, but he's clearly taking a stand and has been known to take stands that don't necessarily demonstrate the best interest of the people he purports to lead. i think that president obama made very clear yesterday what the united states reaction would be to that and it's important to remember that that's not a reaction in isolation. we have many allies in europe who care what's happening there. i suspect president obama will be a leader in helping making sure that we're working together with those allies. >> amy, yesterday, the president said that this was about giving people the right to govern themselves. is that what this is about, or is this about a strategic takeover of a region that is of critical importance to russia and russia's power? >> well, from russia's point of view, it's the latter, in trying to extend their reach in that
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region. charles krauthammer writes that putin has viewed the collapse of the soviet union one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th union, one he wishes to reverse. i'm not sure i would describe him as bullying president obama. i think he's ignoring him. the president's statements come in context and the most recent context was that they were absolutely meaningless when it came to syria. if you remember, it was vladimir putin who swept in to save the day, humiliate the united states president, with a deal that has yet to be honored by bashar al assad. so what we know is that this president has projected weakness, that weakness invites aggression and instability. another news item we have yet to discuss is that the russians sent in a spy ship into the port of havana this week. so we are talking only 90 miles from the coast of florida. clearly the russians have very little respect for president obama, took the measure of the man and found him wanting.
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>> so i see you shaking your head. you disagree with that statement. what has president obama done to make the russians stand down? >> well, what i think is important to remember here is i think to some degree, amy is probably giving putin what he wants, is those people who would try to leverage this moment into a domestic political debate about whether or not -- >> absolutely not. that's completely unfair. there is no way that i would try to give vladimir putin what he wants. please don't attack my integrity that way. >> i didn't attack your integrity and you know it. this is merely an observation about what i think putin would like. i think what's interesting is that when it comes to putin, it's not necessarily always just aimed at the united states, although that is the target he picks in trying to sort of goad into a fight. i don't want to use the term battle because i don't want to suggest that there is anything military about it. other than his macro political ego which is what i think we see on display with putin. >> so based on the u.s. response in those regions that amy referred to, do you see any
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consequences or any either military action or something stronger against putin and what he's done in crimea? >> i think it's really important that political folks like me not present themselves as foreign or military experts. i'm not any of those. except that we know that there are a lot of resources at hand, both not only that our president and our country has control over, but that come together in working with our allies moving forward when we deal with aggressive positioning and stances like this from putin. that's what's important to remember. we are leaders but we are not living in an isolated world. we live in a world where there are many european allies who are very close and near to putin geographically and we have to work together with them. i do think what we heard yesterday was president obama stand up forcefully, make sure there was no misunderstanding about where the united states stood on this, that these actions on the part of putin and his military would have consequences. i think we will move forward under that leadership and that understanding of what can be.
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>> okay. so amy, importantly for tea party supporters, sort of celebrated their five years, tea party supporters have long been in favor of reducing the u.s. footprint overseas. is this one of those moments when they are going to stick with the white house or are they going to continue to say the u.s. should limit its involvement? >> well, the tea party is fairly divided when it comes to foreign policy. there are some that would like to see a more muscular american response to international crises and are very frustrated with the president that we hear a lot of rhetoric. we heard the red line of syria, which turned into a green light for bashar al assad to use poison gas on his own people, which has yet to be dealt with and there are no real consequences there despite the fact the president promised there would be. so i think the tea party is very frustrated with the seeming incompetence and impotence of the president of the united states. at the same time they want to know what is the united states national interest when we get involved in military or
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international conflict. when it comes to the crimean conflict situation, crisis that seems to be brewing, there are options far away from military options. for example, economic sanctions on russia. max boot, a writer for commentary.org, suggested economic sanctions for russian elites, really putting the squeeze on people so that it hurts. but we know that vladimir putin, let's face it, guys, has put his military into crimea with no concern about what the united states response might be or will be. he didn't stand down. he moved forward. once the sochi olympics were forward, the russian bear got back to business agresing its neighbors and embarrassing the united states. >> all right. we could talk about this a lot more. i did read something in the economist and kiki, i would like your thoughts on this. they wrote that diplomatic pretense that russia is a law-abiding democracy should end. is that how the united states should be dealing with russia?
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that it's not about democracy when it comes to that country? >> i think what folks know is that the leader of russia has a different kind of personality, and you can't assume that what may or may not be the doctrine of the nation is a clear academic exercise when the personality of somebody like putin is in charge. that's really to amy's point when we have lots of things on the table come to play, which is diplomacy with action and making decisions moving forward. so the reality is i don't think even a regular old consumer of the news thinks that vladimir putin is working off of anything that's a specific global strategy that's in concert with other people's interests other than his own. >> all right. thank you both so very much. interesting perspectives from both of you. we certainly appreciate your time. more on u.s./russian relations coming up right after as david gergen will join us. [announcer] word is getting out.
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major developments on the situation with ukraine happening right now. the u.n. security council are going to hold an informal consultation on the situation. that's coming up at 2:00 eastern. all this was set in motion after russia's parliament approved the use of military force in ukraine. just yesterday, president obama warned russia against a military intervention. today, russian president vladimir putin asked parliament to approve the use of military force. moments later, parliament unanimously voted in favor. ukraine's government has condemned the move and called russia's actions a direct aggression. this is likely to make things extremely tense between the u.s. and russia. reuters reports that parliament has asked putin to recall russia's ambassador to the
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united states. i'm joined by foreign affairs reporter elise labott reporter in washington and senior political analyst david gergen. elise, first to you. how is this going to harm u.s./russian relations, which can best described as tense on a good day. >> that's right. well, you know, if you remember, when president obama came into office in 2009, you started this russian reset. they wanted to put relations back on a better track and why was that? because during the bush administration, and russian invasion into areas of georgia, the relationship really took a dive. so over the last few years, president obama has tried to improve the relationship. there has been a nuclear agreement, there -- but there's been a lot of tension on issues like syria, for instance, and now on issues of ukraine. president putin's human rights record in the country. so this is really, i think, not only going to damage their relations on a bilateral level but also, these conflicts in
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syria where the u.s. and russia really need to work together in terms of getting the opposition and president assad of syria to try and end this conflict. the iran nuclear deal. i think these are the areas where the relationship is going to suffer even more than u.s./russia relations. >> david, russian hawks have long wanted to annex crimea. crimea apparently was transferred to ukraine by khruschev who reportedly was drunk at the time. a very famous story. do you think that president putin was simply waiting in the wings for a moment when ukraine seemed vulnerable, seemed a little bit more unstable, to go in there and tap into the extreme russian sentiment in that part, because we're not talking about troops in the upper part of ukraine. we're talking about troops in crimea, a very strategic area where russia has a very important naval port. >> well, listen, i think from putin's stance, he sees ukraine
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as sort of russian territory. it's not just a state. it's sort of russian territory, sphere of influence, their orbit, whatever term you wish to use. they were starting to move toward the west. they wanted to join up with europe. they came very close to doing that. he came in and manipulated the government, offered them $15 billion of aid to come back into the soviet orbit and not leave. that prompted all the protests and the ouster of the former government. it looked like for a very short time, ukraine might be coming back to the west and putin is trying to grab what he can. because that territory, especially crimea, has historically been regarded as russian. it does give them access to the black sea. it gives them access to water and trade which is very important to them, and he's now playing strong guy and he's put a stick in the eye of the president of the united states who just 24 hours ago was saying be very careful, there will be consequences you go over a line and here he is bulldozing over the line dismissively, and i
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think it will call for the united states to mobilize its allies rapidly to make it clear the west does stand united, there will be economic sanctions for starters and there may be more if the russians go and send troops in across the border in violation of their treaty obligations. it would be a clear violation of the treaty the russians have signed to respect the sovereignty and independence of ukraine, they signed it back 20 years ago. u.s. and uk also signed on. if they violate that treaty, there has to be consequences. >> we heard fred pleitgen say that russia has about 150,000 troops in that region, in that area, but it's more than that. they were leasing a port where the whole black sea fleet is based. so it not only gives russia access to the mediterranean, but it also gives russia, they are
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able to control the middle east, their interest, from that position as well, no? >> i would -- i think it goes too far to say that their fleet in the black sea controls the middle east. it does give them greater leverage in the middle east. i think that's right. but this is mostly about trying to maintain as much as they can of the old ussr, that putin as we just heard, feels was a terrific loss for the soviet -- to lose the soviet union, and he's trying to collect what he can. we're back in effect to what's sounding a lot like the cold war. we thought we moved away from it and this i think must be a shock to the obama administration which thought we had left the cold war and they could get along with this guy, they could hit the reset button. the obama administration has made progress with russia on nuclear weapons agreements and they look to russia as being helpful on the iranian talks, which is the big, big issue
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that's in the background here. but now putin is coming out as a thug and showing i think his true colors, and all the people who believe there could be a reset button must be scratching their heads saying we miscalled this. >> i want to bring elise in on this to get your perspective, because you know, again, he's got these troops in ukraine, he's got a submarine in havana. it doesn't look like somebody who is willing to let go of russia and the soviet union sort of glorious past. >> there has been concern over the last several years about this resurgent russia that president putin wants to re-annex some of the former soviet republics. we're not just talking about ukraine he has been trying to put a lot of pressure on. moldova, for instance, other countries like belarus. when you talk about are we going back to the cold war, i don't really think it's the cold war
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because that was a time when you had kind of mutually assured destruction and two countries were avoiding shooting at each other. i think it's more a little bit like a bidding war for the future of europe and president obama and secretary kerry have said this is not some kind of chess board, this is not some kind of bidding war with russia, but certainly, it is a fight for influence on the world stage. you know, during the cold war, russia was a super power. russia is not a super power anymore. the u.s. is far superior militarily, diplomatically, economically, so the question is how do you bring russia into the fold and let russia know that yes, you will still have some influence in ukraine, you can work with these countries and they can have great economic and diplomatic relations with russia, but they still need to be able to chart their own future and there are plenty of countries that are neighboring with russia that do that. finland, for instance. so i think it's a catch-22. they want to make sure russia doesn't cross these so-called red lines, but they also want to
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find a way to let russia know that it does have a seat at the table. >> all right. a bidding war and not a cold war. okay. thank you, david gergen, elise labott. more on all of this and what washington is doing. this is breaking news in ukraine coming up. hey guys! sorry we're late. did you run into traffic? no, just had to stop by the house to grab a few things. you stopped by the house? uh-huh. yea. alright, whenever you get your stuff, run upstairs, get cleaned up for dinner. you leave the house in good shape? yea. yea, of course. ♪ [ sportscaster talking on tv ] last-second field go--
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it took the russian parliament no time to approve the use of military force in ukraine today. going to go back to cnn military analyst james "spider" marks. general, does this move suggest that putin plans to simply carve up ukraine? >> you know, deb, it's a very good conclusion that you can draw right now. if you try to eat the whole thing at once, you might choke. clearly, putin's primary interest is to ensure that he doesn't lose control, he can protect and maintain his independent actions in the port as you have been talking about this morning. that's mission number one for him. so the isolation of the crimea peninsula, he's achieved. look, let's call it what it is. this is an invasion. it's already taken place. the fact that he went back to his parliament to seek
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permission to use military force in ukraine is completely irrelevant at this point. it has already happened. so he needs to be able to assure that he has freedom of action in crimea but that's a part of ukraine so what happens in ukraine moving forward is the second discussion. we are certainly going to be able to focus in on what's happening in crimea and probably draw some of our own conclusions. what we really need to be focused in on is what's going to happen with the larger ukraine, which is the next shoe to drop. >> what's interesting is that in 1994, the ukraine or ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons in exchange, russia basically guaranteed to respect ukrainian territorial integrity. they have not done that. so effectively what's happened to and now, they are in a position where they may not be able to defend this key court. it landlocks ukraine a little
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bit more, no? >> no, it really does. in fact, ukraine would be foolish to try to do anything militarily against putin's military. they don't have the training. they certainly don't have enough of the momentum to try to do that. they have interior lines that can move with a certain degree of freedom, but they're not going to be able to achieve their larger goal. their larger goal needs to be able, let's protect what might be half a loaf. that could happen and that could be a likely outcome. i would hope not. clearly, when you put a signature to a piece of paper, you would hope russia would abide by that. >> that has yet to be seen. we're going to take a quick break. we'll be back with you, general.
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with a mortgage that's engineered to amaze. to nbcuniversal's coveragens of the biggest loser olympic winter games ever,
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with the most coverage of the most events on every device. and the most hours of streaming video on the nbc sports live extra app, including the x1 platform from xfinity. comcast was honored to bring every minute of every medal of nbcuniversal's coverage to every screen. so what's next? rio 2016. welcome to what's next. comcast nbcuniversal. we're going to switch gears and go to jason collins. he is the first openly gay player in the nba. he says so far, everything's the same. rachel nichols sat down with the player in this american journey. >> so many changes for jason collins.
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>> it's been a very positive experience. i was with jason at the game he played in denver. he was on the visiting team, but when he came into the game, the denver fans gave him a really nice ovation and that's just an example of the support he's gotten around the league. jason told me he is happy that people are thinking of him as this big history maker, but what he also loves is that with each game he plays, people are starting to think of him once again as just another basketball player. take a listen. you had a great line. i've been showering in the nba for 12 years and have you killed anybody. you're back in the locker room, the training room. have you noticed anything different? >> it's the same. everything is the same. just you know, like i said before, 12 years in the nba. not a problem. not a issue. year 13. not a problem. not a issue. >> do you feel that you're inspiring people?
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have you heard goodi inthings? >> yes, i definitely have. i met some other athletes who are sort of in this same position as i am and we're sort of like a fraternity, just trying to help each other, just trying to keep inspiring each other. -- the list goes on and on, so many great athletes, i've met along my journey and it's really great to you know, hear each other's stories and keep inspiring each other. >> jason's had a lot of people celebrating him. he was the guest of michelle obama at the state of the union. he said the most special thing was a text from billie jean king. i guess one trail blazer to another, anderson. >> he's worn this jersey number 98 for a while, but now, people are realizing the significance. >> after he first came out, he did explain what the 98 was for.
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matthew shepard's parents were stunn e stunned. judy was able to put in a call to him. she told him how touched and proud she was, but also told jason, now, you don't let the haters get to you. you just keep doing what you're doing and of course, jason loved the fact that the 61-year-old white woman was telling him not to listen to the haters. he made sure to tell her he was following her advice. >> well, rachel hosted unguarded at 10:30 eastern. we are going to have more on the breaking news in ukraine. that's coming up. i'm beth... and i'm michelle. and we own the paper cottage. it's a stationery and gifts store. anything we purchase for the paper cottage goes on our ink card. so you can manage your business expenses and access them online
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coverage of the crisis in ukraine. we want to welcome our viewer heers and around the world. we are following breaking news out of ukraine. in two hours, the u.s. security counsel is expected to have an informal consultation on the situation. ukraine's opposition leader just called for an emergency session of parliament to invalidate the naval base agreement with russia. this comes after russia's parliament approved the use of military force in ukraine just moments after president putin had requested it. it is likely to spark major concern in the u.s. and the european union. president obama said yesterday that ukraine's sovereignty should not be violated. >> any violation would be deeply
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destabilize, which is not in the interest of ukraine, russia or europe. united states will stand with the international community in affirming that there will be costs bringing military intervention in ukraine. >> russia's latest move comes after a new pro russian leader took power in crimea. a different leader in that area. crimea is primarily a russian region. ukraine has been very unstable since the parliament voted president vyanukovich out last week. those that favor russia and those that favor the eu. our correspondents are following the reaction around the world. earn mcpike is live at the white house, diana live in the crimea region of ukraine and elise is live in washington with reaction
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from the state department. we're going to go to the white house, monitor room reaction from there. erin, what more has the president and the administration said about what is happening in that region? >> well, i want to isolate one of the comments that you just played from president obama from yesterday afternoon when he said there will be costs for military intervention in ukraine. he did not specify what those are. we have heard from administration officials that could be a boycott of the g8 summit coming in june in sochi. so far today, the white house has told us they do not expect another on camera briefing from president obama today. that could obviously change because the situation is developing very rapidly and obviously, putin's moves seem like a direct affront to obama coming just 16 hours or so after he made that on camera statement. also, the national security counsel is telling us they are
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coordinating their response and we should hear from them today and as soon as we do, we'll bring that to you. >> all right. thank you very much. we're now moving on to russia, where fred is standing by live and fred, what is the latest on russia approving military force in ukraine? many said the people there, the troops, are russian. so all they have to do is take off their masks and remove the patches from their arms and viola, you've got an invasion. >> that's a good question. another good question, are more troops on the way there. the russians had about 25,000 troops stationed there. they have one of the biggest naval bases there. the black sea fleet is at home there and they have some army bases affiliated with that base as well. there's also some ukraine politicians who have said that they believe that already, as many as 2,000 to 600 russian
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troops have been flown in to an airport that was surrounded by these gunmen, which no one knew who they were and now, it appears they were regular russian forces. so, the big question is did the russian parliament today okay the deployment of those forces in retro speck or is this something that is going to happen. some of the things the speakers have been saying is that there might be moves ahead. there was one who said at this point many time, it's not clear when those troops will be dep y deployed. putin had the okay to do so and then the big question, how many would they be so far. the lawmakers are saying that all of that is at the discretion of putin, but he does have enough assets in that area with the big russian exercise going on, he could move in forces quickly if he chooses to do so.
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>> one thing we want to talk about, which we're not hearing a lot about, the whole natural gas issue. europe is very dependent on natural gas, which comes from russia and is transported through the ukraine. so, is it possible that what russia has now done is insured they've got that access and is europe worried because they may not get the natural gas, which constitutes a 25% of all their resources from russia? >> it's a very good question, deborah. and it's actually the second battleground in all of this. if you will. if you will go back to 2004, that was the last time there was a pro european government that was in office in ukraine at that point, there were a lot of disputes over transit for gas into europe, for gas prices being paid by the ukraine government. there was a gas shortage because the russians at points in time have minimizeded the flow of
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gas. that could happen again. already, there are signs that there are problems with gas deliveries to ukraine. not to europe yet, but to ukraine. gas from the big government owned gas companies. they have said the ukraine government owes some $1.5 billion for gas that's been delivered and they've said that potentially, they could turn off gas delivery or at least minimize gas delivery to ukraine if those bills are not paid. that comes on the heels of despite the fighting that is currently going on, and so certainly gas could become a big issue. the europeans will be very worried about this. it's still probably too early for any sort of reprecussions to hit europe, for europe to feel shortages, but this is an ongoing issue and something raised by the russians almost immediately after these tensions
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between the ukraine government broke out. >> and quickly, reuters now reporting that the russian parliament is asking to recall its ambassador to the united states. does that signify that russia simply wants to cut diplomatic negotiations or cease talking? is this symbolic or realistic? >> that's also a really good question. i think it's more symbolic than realistic. so far, what we've heard from the president's office, from putin's office, is that no decision has been made on this motion that was discussed in parliament for him to ask him to recall a russian ambassador to the united states. at this point in time, it does not seem as though the russian government for all the tensions out there, for all the issues going on with this situation, that the russian government would want to cut ties with the united states or recall the ambassador. the situation simply hasn't deteriorated to that point yet and is far from deterioratiing
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from that point. there's a lot of russian lawmakers who are very angry at what the president said. one felt it was threatening remarks. it appears as though cooler head wills prevail, at least on that point, and it seems as though a sort of side show to the main issue, which is the situation in ukraine. there's no indication at this point that the russian government will want to cut ties with the u.s. or indeed call the ambassador. >> a side show or distraction, fred in moscow, thank you very much. now, we're going to go to ukraine, crimea, a heavily russian region of the country. it has been tense there since the country's president was voted out of office last week. the region's pro russian leader asked for russian forces to help maintain the piece right there in that little area in orange.
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diana is live from the city. what are you seeing there? >> reporter: well, a lot of troops guarding government facilities, roads and most of the time, there they are in military fatigues alongside pro russian local self-organized forces. so, the question is, does putin really need to send in more troops to keep the situation under control? because of the fact of the matter is, these gunmen, who are russians, i asked one of these soldiers today, a young one, who probably committed a big slip of the tongue when he said, yes, i am from russia. confirmation at last that these governments do actually come from russian territory. so, they do have the situation here under strict control. and you get the idea, the sense
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that the russian majority are very, very happy about that. there have been pro russian dem traditions today. everybody waving the russian flag, almost being jubilant. but you haven't seen any signs of the other people that make up this mix. ukraine nationals and the ethnic -- they seem to have stayed well out of it. it does seem though that vladimir putin and the pro russian majority have gotten what they want. they put in a pro russian leader on wednesday into the government here. the situation is calm, but there are russian troops everywhere. now the question is does vladimir putin want to send in more? is this enough? is this retrospective. there are those who are very, very nervous about the prospect of more troops coming into this
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region. >> absolutely because many, certainly the tartars, return after ukraine became sort of a sovereign nation. it's fascinating. when we look at this area, you've got two, one country essentially, and two governments. one government in kiev. a second government, pro russian, in crimea. so you've got two different forces going on. one thing about these troops that you spoke of, why was there so much secrecy about that initial invasion into the region? we saw the troops with the masks and yet, they were carrying -- there was a takeover of government buildings and they raised the russian flag, but no confirmation. fred, our colleague, has said that in fact, the russian parliament said okay, fine, send in troops, but it was really after the fact. how does that all play out there? >> well, precisely because of
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the word invasion. this is so controversial. russia may have a base, but any right to put it military elsewhere on ukraine sovereign territory. in a way, this was a sort of soft behind the scenes sort of an invasion, where by you had these anonymous people coming in and taking control and no one had to stand up and go, okay, it's russia, we're doing this. we're acting on it. these are things that putin seems to have quite cleverly fudged and weirdly, it doesn't seem to have mattered in this region. what really has mattered is this decision in the parliament is sort of deployed, even though it happened on the ground. so, that is kind of really, really worried people. the fact of the matter is ukrai ukraine territorial sovereignty
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was breached. >> at that naval base is the entire black sea fleet. thank you so much. a lot more coming up. ameriprise asked people a simple question: can you keep your lifestyle in retirement? i don't want to think about the alternative. i don't even know how to answer that. i mean, no one knows how long their money is going to last. i try not to worry, but you worry. what happens when your paychecks stop? because everyone has retirement questions. ameriprise created the exclusive confident retirement approach. to get the real answers you need. start building your confident retirement today.
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this is cnn breaking news. major developments on the situation with ukraine happening right now. the u.n. security counsel is meeting on the situation. that's going to happen at 2:00 p.m. eastern. that's the u.n. security counsel meeting. all this was set in motion after russia's parliament approved the use of military force in ukraine earlier today. since then, president putin's long time adviser told russian state tv that putin has not made a decision on whether to use force. he also apparently hasn't made a decision on whether to recall the ambassador to the u.s. something russia's parliament asked for today. ukraine's government has
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condemneded russia's approval of military use, calling it a direct aggression. let me bring in foreign affairs reporter, elise, who is here with us in washington. the state department, what is the mood, what is happening? >> well, obviously, they're having a lot of meetings today. they haven't said anything publicly, but sources saying listen, they don't know what russia's intentions are. is he going to just stay within the area or does he have the intention to move into eastern ukraine, where there's a lot of pro russian sentiment. the u.n. security counsel is meeting today, but it's unclear on what they can do, because russia is a permanent member of the counsel. has a veto, so in action that the counsel would have clearly isn't going to have any punitive measures against russia. i think that's more of an area where they could hope to get
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russian discussion on how to find a diplomatic way out of this. how to find a solution, which protects russian interests in ukraine by saying listen, this has to be a ukraine that is democratic. that is able to chart its own course, but also, will it be able to have good relations with russia? >> let me ask you about diplomacy and what appears to be a total and complete disconnect. that an adviser to president putin would go on television and say that putin has not made a decision on whether to use force and yet, you look at crimea and look at the airports, the roadblocks, the troops and russian flags that are flying. i'm sorry, how does a diplomat deal with what appears to be use of force when russia's saying we're not sure whether we're going to do it yet. >> president putin is demonstrating a show of force. but there's been no guidance on the ground.
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no shooting. no action by any of these troops. this is really right now, he's playing a very tough diplomatic game and this is you know, what he calls real politics. he's upping the ante. showing the united states and the europeans and everybody that he's willing to use force, but i think he's certainly hoping and obviously, the international community is hoping that won't be necessary. it's really going to be up to president obama to work with the european leaders to show president putin that there is a cost for bringing this any further. president obama said there was a cost and we heard erin talking about some kind of possible punitive measures like avoiding the g8. i've also heard administration officials talking about ending trade talks with russia. russia wants to have a lot deeper economic ties and commercial relations with the united states. that would be off the table. president putin doesn't care about any of that. he's made the calculus that he
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can live without that. ukraine is very important to him. up on the u.s. to show that he can have a hand if he plays by the rules. >> so many people are saying he's not played by the rules. i read something which i thought was quite fascinating. quote, diplomatic pretense that russian is a law-abiding democracy should end. i find it fascinating you make a distinction between a show and use of force. if somebody sort of swept into atlanta with troops that are not supposed to be there, i'm not so sure i would call that a show of force, use of force. let's talk about the g8 summit. is it possible that western leaders could boycott it or hold their own and tell putin sorry? you're just, you're simply not part of the -- you're just not doing what is expected of a democratic country to do? >> well, june is a ways away,
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but i think that's highly likely that they could do that. they could have a g7 if you will. russia really hasn't been part of this process in forever. it's really in recent years that it became a g8. that would be a real poke in the eye to putin because sochi has been very important to him. you saw with the olympics, he was really interested in showing sochi as this international city of culture and tourism and if they were not able to hold it there, it would be a blow to him. he's decided he could live without it, but i think it's high hily likely. the rest of the countries need to talk about these issues with putin and if you look at some of the other issues on the world stage, the iran nuclear talks and the desire to get iran to make a deal to end its nuclear program, the crisis in syria, these are all issues that the
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united states and russia are working so closely together, these are the crisis that are going to lose out in the end if there's no g8. >> at the heart of it also is can the united states, can the european union, actually trust anything that president putin says? because actions are so much stronger than words and right now, it appears through action that putin is the one who certainly is a lot stronger. >> well, the answer is no, they can't trust anything he says, but what are the options? we talked about these minor diplomatic options that the u.s. would be willing to impose on russia. putin's pretty much said yesterday after this strong statement by president obama, who cares. so, how does the u.s. and the international community re-group and a, send a message to president putin that you can't take this any further, but also
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find a way in all of this to satisfy some interests to make sure, he's afraid he's going to lose all of ukraine. he's worried that the whole country is going to be lost to him. if they can find a way to show him you know, let's let this go forward. let the process go forward. you'll still have influence in the country. you can have wonderful relations in ukraine if you are part of the solution. and not part of the problem. this is going to be the challenge for the international community. if president obama really has to lead the charge to galvanize the international community for tough diplomatic, economic and military, to show him that there will be a cost. right now, there's been a lot of rhetoric. >> sure, and what's also interesting also is that you know, with the natural gas that flows from russia to ukraine, now, ukraine is not getting
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access to that. the question is, what happens to europe and that's going to be very much on the minds of many people there. tit for tat. do you see the u.s. wanting to essentially recall its ambassador to russia? >> well, right now, there is no quote u.s. ambassador to russia. michael mcfall, who was a very strong critic of the putin regime let's say, just left. he wanted to spend more time with his family. he was a very controversial figure in russia. he's left right now. they can recall the second in command, what we call the fair for talks, that's not really going to make a big deal because real discussions between washington and moscow are done from the foreign ministries, the white house to the kremlin. from secretary of state john kerry to foreign minister sergey lavrov. they have a close relationship and speak often through the
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defense ministers, so the ambassador is a symbolic measure, but isn't really going to have any effect on the diplomatic relations because that's really done between capitals. >> thank you so much and obviously, the question if russia gets kicked out of the g8, will they strong more strongly towards brazil, china, india and russia. we're going to be right back with a lot more. stay with us. [ male announcer ] did you know that if you wear a partial, you're almost twice as likely to lose your supporting teeth? try poligrip for partials. poligrip helps minimize stress which may damage supporting teeth by stabilizing your partial. care for your partial. help protect your natural teeth. [ chainsaw whirring ] humans -- sometimes life trips us up. sometimes we trip ourselves up. and although the mistakes may seem to just keep coming at you, so do the solutions.
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welcome back. we've got more news on the crisis in ukraine. to really understand what's happening in the region of ukraine, it helps to look at a map, so tom foreman helps us understand the huge regional difference and gives us an historical context as well. >> ukraine is a little bit smaller than the state of texas. about 45 million living here, 2 million in the crimea, and most of these people feel stronger ties to russia than they do to ukraine. why? because russian is their first language. many of the older ones will remember back when it was part of the soviet union before it was gifted in 1954 as part of the ukraine then. how far is it from crimea to
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kiev, about 400 miles, from new york to pittsburgh. moscow is more than twice as far, but look at russia over here in gray. look at how closely the border is. located to c rrrimea and importantly, look at this red area because all of this area has stronger ties to russia than it does to the rest of ukraine. in the last election, this entire area was the base of support for the now ousted president yanukovich, so as you watch this conflict move forward, as you wait to see what russia will do next, keep an eye on the eastern part of the country because that's the part of the country that will more naturally want to align with what russia wants to do. >> okay. thank you so much. that's how the ukraine and russia puzzle fits together. earlier today, it took the russian parliament just minutes to approve the use of military
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force in crimea. what does that mean militarily? james spider marx is back here with us. what are the russians effectively in control of crimea right now? >> they are. clearly, as we've discussed and essentially uncovered this over the course of the last 24 hours, this is an invasion of russia by y ukraine. we've really been analyzing the heck out of all this tactics. is the ambassador of the united states going to go back to russia? does this include ground troops? do they have markings, do they not have markings? so, we're spending a lot of time on what exists. we need to take a step back and here are the headlines that we should be seeing here in the next week. russia invades ukraine. russia annexes crimea, russia,
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i.e. putin, has a seat at the table in terms of how ukraine looks moving forward. those are the three major moves taking place and what's going to happen next. very, very critical that the united states establish right now, whether they care, whether this is in their spear of influence. of course, we care, but is this in our national interest and should we be doing something about it beyond what we have done so far? the president has been very measured. that's great. simultaneously, he needs to be as elise said, galvanizing the support for the array of options that should be in place. >> so, leading off of that question, how important is this to the united states? first of all, i want to bring up that map we showed before because there's a red line that runs through that map. and it goes from the black sea, which is where the russian force is, all the way down and through
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over, you can see how the russian ships, okay, as we pull out there a little bit. if you go down, there's a red line that shows how the russian ships can get all the way around, through into the mediterranean and through to syria. so, one would argue that it's important to the u.s. in terms of the spear of influence there in that region, but additionally, you've got the natural gas issue, which is the russians send their gas through ukraine and then it's shipped out of those ports as well. if the e.u. has a problem getting its gas, will that also affect u.s. interests? >> it's really more than just a two things that you've described very, very well. cle clearly, the united states is very interested in that part of the world. clearly, historical presence
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in that part of the world. that would intersect with the red line you just described, so one could say this is a resit vis type of revisit between the united states and the former soviet union embodied now in putin as the president of the russian federation. this really is not unlike, this could be described as containment version two. what can the united states do to alter activities right now in the ukraine? not much. what can the united states do to try to ensure that it doesn't expand and become something that is going to have a deleterious effect and there's a lot we can do. >> okay, general, stand by. we've got more coming up. right now, we're going to take a quick break and we'll see you right after. [ male announcer ] this is the cat that drank the milk... [ meows ] ...and let in the dog that woke the man who drove to the control room
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major developments in the ukraine. the u.n. security counsel is going to hold an urgent meeting on the situation at 2:00 p.m. eastern. all this set in motion today after russia's parliament approved the use of military force in ukraine even as troops there were already on the ground. since then, president putin's long time adviser told russian state tv putin hasn't made a decision on whether to use force. he also hasn't made a decision on whether to recall the ambassador to the u.s., something russia's parliament asked for today. we have heard from the british foreign secretary. he says the russian ambassador to britain has summoned to the russian office. calling it direct aggression. opposition leader has called for ukraine's parliament to convene right away. that is a pro western parliament
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right now. we've got a lot of questions, one that i want to go back to the general for. let's say russia does successfully annex crimea. given that's the area they seem most interested in, how does that directly effect the ukraine and its economic future? >> i'm not sure that it has a significant impact on the immediate near term. certainly, it's a question of credibility, having a very large portion of the country annexed. and there might be a situation, this is supposition on our part, they could agree to it, but your often going to agree to things like that with a gun to your head. if russia, however, alternatively, lost access to
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crimea and the home of the black sea fleet, that warm water port, that would be a crushing blow in terms of its military posture, as well as its economic. >> thank you so much. we're going to turn now to our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr and we understand there's an important meeting today. what do you know? >> what we know now is u.s. defensive secretary, chuck hagel, spoke by telephone with his russian counterparts, russian defense minister. the administration expects shortly to issue some details on that conversation. we'll see how much we get. very definitely, all of that with ukraine defense secretary chuck hagel, you remember earlier this week at nato headquarters, was very adamant he did not want to see an escalation of military tensions. he was watching those russian
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military exercises very closely. the pentagon, the intelligence community, really trying to keep up minute by minute with any sign signal, any indication with what the russian military is is doing. what their orders are. we can't say it enough. it's unclear. perhaps the final orders still to come from putin, but the pentagon clearly, chuck hagel trying to reach out today and get a sense of what they may be thinking. >> and on the other hand, just you know, with your expertise in this, is it possible that the defense secretary may have offered some i suppose reasons or explanations or what the u.s. might do or was this really just listening to the russians? >> well, until we get that read out as washington calls it, when they issue a statement saying
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what happened in the phone call, we really don't know. typically, these types of calls are very polite. both sides try and get a feel for what each other may be up to. what the russian defense minister would know going into this is is that the u.s. has no intentions of using any of this military assets to counter the russians. very much the u.s. strategy from everything we are all hearing from the president on down is this will be dealt with in diplomatic channels, perhaps economic and financial pressures on russia. so when the russian defense minister listens to the u.s. defense minister, there's not suggestion of any use of the u.s. military option and that's for now by all accounts, just appears to be off the table. >> thanks so much. we'll check in with you once we
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get that memo. we're going to bring in david gergen. we're watching all of this happen at a lightning fast pace. russian forces in crimea, parliament in russia voting to send in troops. now wanting to recall its ambassador. this is going so fast. what is behind the pace? what is russia doing? >> mr. putin knows how to play chess and accelerate pace. that's what he's doing. he's making a lot of tactical moves. very decisive. he doesn't have to worry about running up a lot of allies. he can move on his own. i think he's presenting the united states with two challenges. one is a big interest back to general marx' comment, to ensure that russia does not invade openly and violation of treaties that is signed along with the u.s. and the u.k. to protect its sovereignty and the integrity of the ukraine.
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he hasn't yet done that. he's rallying the cases really hard. we're in a murkier situation now with a russian back thugs in effect have taken control of the area, but haven't yet sent it to the tanks. there's some indications of what putin's trying to do is to have kiev send in troops to stop him, which would be a trap. because then, he would have an open invitation to go to the russian troops and roll the tanks in as they did in georgia. and what we have to stop that and that means mobilizing not only through the defense secretary, but mobilizing the german government. merkel and others, she's our chief partner on this, to help take the lead, telling the russians here is the escalations, you do this. we're going to start doing economic sanctions. that's the first interest. there is a second, unstated interest here and that is a perception that president obama
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can be played by mr. putin. that he's strong on rhetoric, but doesn't follow through and that putin has sort of gotten the best of him on snowden, syria. very much in control. more in control now. and that if he gets the best of him here, it is going to be, it's going to be a setback to the united states. an expert said the other day, you can't bring a baggett into a knife fight and putin has a knife. >> all right. it appears we're probably the ones holding the baggett. thank you very much. more on the breaking news in ukraine after this. [ male announcer ] did you know that if you wear a partial, you're almost twice as likely to lose your supporting teeth? try poligrip for partials.
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a lot happening in the ukraine, but for now -- with more on what's going on, winter storm watch affecting 96 million people. >> it is a whopper of the system that does not break the drought,
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but helps the folks across california who have seen perhaps on record, the worst drought conditions they have seen ever recorded. take a look at some of the flooding we have seen over the past 24 hours. some places in california expecting an additional 1 to 3 inches of rain. there you can see water. there's no place for it to go. especially around some of those burn areas that we saw just a month ago and then, a trained storm spotter noticed a funnel cloud and we think it actually did touch the ground and that would be a tornado, which touched down in the vicinity of woodland, california. we don't have any reports of injuries, but definitely in central california, this is a rare sight. coming up in the forecast, we're expecting a couple of more inches as the big risk weather system moves in. even in phoenix, some nascar races to take place this afternoon, if there is rain on
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track, they will not perform the nascar races there. san francisco bay area, yesterday, they saw record rainfall totals. coming up in the forecast, we're looking at snow and ice and sleet. from kansas city and st. louis, extending into indianapolis, northeast by monday. >> thank you. we'll be right back. ♪ they lived. ♪ they lived. ♪ they lived. ♪ (dad) we lived... thanks to our subaru. ♪ (announcer) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. life could be hectic. as a working mom of two young boys angie's list saves me a lot of time. after reading all the reviews
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we are going live now to kiev and ian joins me now. what is the reaction there in kiev to use russian's parliament as permission to invade? >> there's a lot of strong rhetoric coming from the government here saying that the russians should not violate ukraine's sovereignty, which we've seen the russians moving into the crimea. right now, we have an emergency meeting here in kiev. we're still waiting to hear what will come out of that. also tomorrow, there's an emergency session of parliament and one of the leading members of parliament is calling for that black sea fleet naval base for that deal to be void and essentially, telling the russians to leave. even if they go through with that, it's unlikely the russians
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will listen to them. they haven't so far. ukraine has told russia to get out of the crimea, so looking now next, what does ukraine have, what can ukraine do. they've so far ruled out some sort of military action. they're hoping diplomatic channels will come to some sort of solution. also, they're talking with united states and we are hearing tough rhetoric coming back from those countries. so far, haven't done anything. >> you mention now, if as you mention, if you craukraine wered the -- to be at that naval base, that means that russia has no business being in ukraine. that means that they would be in complete violation, they would be total intruders in that region. >> well, and that's something
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that ukraine, the new government wants to do. they want no excuse to be there. this is a very young government. it's less than a week old. normally, they'd be going about stabilizing the country. >> ian, in kiev. thank you so much. stay tuned for continuing coverage of the situation in ukraine with wolf blitzer right after this. now you can create your own perfect plate of pasta at olive garden, with our new cucina mia menu, for just $9.99. choose the homemade sauce that tempts you the most. like our addictively creamy garlic asiago, devilishly spicy diavolo or garden-fresh primavera with roasted vegetables. all made from scratch and made to order. served with your choice of our new artisinal pastas including gluten free. new cucina mia is all about flavor, all about you, and all just $9.99. at olive garden, we're all family here.
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-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com hello, i'm wolf blitzer in the cnn news room. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. we're tracking breaking news out of russia and ukraine. we're following a developing and
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fast moving situation in ukraine. today, a russian parliament approved the use of military force inside the ukraine after vladimir putin request eed it. putin's adviser tells russian state tv he hasn't decided if he will use that force. in one hour, the united nations security counsel is holding an urgent meeting on the situation and chuck hagel spoke to his russian counterpart today in ukraine meanwhile, protesters on both sides are taking to the streets, including in the capital city of kiev. some demonstrators are furious over russia's latest moves and in pro russia regions of ukraine, demonstrations turned violent. pro into
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an administration building. this comes less than 24 hours after president obama warned there should not be military intervention in ukraine. a strong warning from the president of the united states. our correspondents are following the reaction around the world. jim acosta is a at the white house, fred in moscow and diana in the crimea region. elise is live in washington. let's go to the white house, first, the reaction coming in from white house significant. jim acosta is standing by with the latest. >> that's right, wolf. i have to tell you, we have not heard from the president, have not really heard from this white house since yesterday evening regarding what steps right take place next when it comes to the ukraine. right now, really, there's nothing to confirm, but a large number of big black suvs parked outside the west wing.
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that's something we've just seen develop in the last 40 45 minutes. we're trying to find out if there might be a principle's meeting at the white house. when the president convenes his top national security and intelligence official at the white house to talk about pressing national security and foreign affairs matters. we're waiting to find out if there's word on that. you heard the reporting from barbara starr about the defense stek tear talking to his counterpart in russia, but this president is starting to come under some political pressure to do more since we heard that statement at the white house yesterday. senator john mccain, who has been a critic of the president's foreign policy, released a statement in just a last 15 minutes, saying that he is quote, deeply concerned that russia's ongoing military intervention in crimea may soon expand to earn ukraine. that russia would face costs. senator mccain said the president will articulate those costs and to take steps to
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urgently impose them. a senior administration official told reporters that the united states is now weighing whether or not it will go to the summit in sochi in june this year because of this ongoing situation. this senior administration official saying it's hard to imagine how the u.s. could attend such a meeting. that's how serious it's gotten. >> jim, after the president was in the briefing room late yesterday afternoon making that statement, saying there will be costs if the russians intervene inside ukraine, he then went about his business as usual, his schedule, meeting with democratic party leaders. what's on his schedule today? was there anything today? you see all those parked suvs in the area along the west wing of the white house. i assume if there is a meeting, maybe they're meeting in the white house situation room. >> that's right and i'm just
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hearing from our photojournalist manning the fence cam, that entrance into the west wing, we're hearing general dempsey has just walked out of the white house in the last few minutes, so we're trying to get as much information as we can, so it appears at least from our vantage point from what we can see at this point, that some of the president's top military and national security officials may be meeting here at the white house. but you're right, wolf, the president last night after he made that statement, that dramatic statement, although cautious, here at the white house, he went over to the democratic national committee -- >> i just want to interrupt. hold on. that's general clapper, the head of the national intelligence, chief of national intelligence, who's just getting in the suv. so if martin dempsey, has already left, got into an suv, there's clapper driving away from the white house, so i assume this is a major meeting
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going on and also designed to brief the president on what's going on. >> that's right and you're looking at the same pictures i'm looking at, so this is happening right now. i believe that is the cia director on crutches getting into that gmc suv there. that appears to be secretary hagel. >> that's chuck hagel getting into the other one. that was chuck hagel. >> that's john brennan, the cia director. i think what we're seeing that this meeting at the white house has just broken up. i should not call it a princi l principal's meeting. folks at the white house might get mad at me for saying that because they haven't announced it yet, but when you see individuals coming out of the white house on a day like today, that is a big indication. potentially in the situation room. we don't know the location at this point, but those developments will come in hopefully shortly. >> and they're gearing up for a meeting at the united nations
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security counsel to consider this crisis and i think it's fair to call it a crisis in ukraine right now. the russians have a veto at the counsel, so any resolution that will be critical of russia will be vetoed by the russians. >> that is why this president is in a bit of a box. you will recall last year when edward snowden sought political asylum, the president canceleded that meeting he was scheduled to have with putin in st. petersburg. there are some levers the president can switch in terms of improving or not improving relations with the united states and russia, so the president has those types of options at his fingertips. those aren't going to be considered at this point. what this senior administration official was telling me yesterday is that russia has to consider not only what has to be
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imposed, trade deals that the russians would like to have, but that their general standing in the world, they just put off or pulled off an olympic games ceremonies in sochi. they want to have this g8 summit, putin wants to raise russia's profile on the world stage. this official saying that yesterday, organically speaking, the russian president is putting that in jeopardy if he continues to go down this road. >> i assume someone from the administration at a high level if not the president, will be making a statement shortly to update us on what's going on. stand by, elise is getting more information for us. our foreign affairs reporter. what are you learning? >> well, wolf, senior administration officials tells me indeed, the meeting took place, so that would be all of president obama's top national security advisers and you saw some of them getting into these suvs and loefding the white house. a clear indication that the administration is very concerneded about what's goin on in ukraine.
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>> the options for the u.s. right now, it seems to be -- the president said there will be a cost if they intervene inside ukraine. some russian troops are already in crimea, but the there are limits to what the u.s. might do. >> very limited, wolf. and you heard some of the options that you and jim were talking about. perhaps boycotting the g8 meeting. ending these trade talks. about deeper trade and commercial relations with russia. obviously, president putin has made the calculation that he doesn't care about this. he's willing to pay the cost for that and ukraine, very important. i think obviously trying to demonstrate by going into crimea, that he wants to maintain this influence, but he wants to be incumbent on president obama to show russia there will be a cost.
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clearly right now, he doesn't see that cost. you have this emergency meeting at the u.n. security counsel right now, but they can't do anything to russia either because russia is a current member of the security counsel, has a veto. so this is going to be involved diplomatically. how can the united states, europe, the international community, show russia that a, that will be a pause and that they're willing to be part of the solution and not the problem. they can still have a close relationship with ukraine, good diplomatic and economic religions. >> john kerry, i assume he was, if he's in washington, he was at the white house for this so-called meeting. we saw general martin dempsey, chuck hagel, james clapper, where's kerry? >> he is, we don't know where he is right now, but clearly, he has a very close relationship with sergey la the russian
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foreign minister. you've seen some talk about the russians possibly calling their ambassador back to moscow, but that's not really where the business between the u.s. and russia is done. it's done between capitals, the white house, between the kremlin and secretary kerry and lavrov. secretary kerry has had some positive effects with his relationship with lavrov. they put together those peace talks in geneva. we have on the syrian crisis, we haven't seen a lot of progress, but they are determined to work together and this is i think you should look for kerry to get much more involved. >> we know the vice president, joe biden, has been deeply involved in this crisis as well. stand by. i want to go to moscow right now. fred is on the scene for us. we're getting some signals from the russians that they're ready
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to use significant military force in ukraine, given the pro russian attitude. >> well, wolf, putin certainly had gotten the go ahead from russian parliament to send troops in. the russian parliament voted on that measure and voted unanimously to approve that. so right now, putin has complete authority to do whatever he wants in sending troops to ukraine. the big question is he doing that? getting this approval retroactively. they have put somewhere between 2,000 and 6,000 troops on ukraine soil. russian planes, or is this something that is still going to happen. because we have to keep in mind
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that the russians could move forces very, very quickly. and involving some 150,000 russian troops. that's about the number of troops that the u.s. has on the ground in iraq during the height of the iraq war. that's right next door to ukraine right now. the vibes that we're getting from politicians on the ground, they believe if a force is put together, it would be a very small, limited force and as you said, the spokesperson for putin has said it's not even clear if putin is going to use additional troops because clearly, at this point in time, it seems as though russian forces are working together with pro russian militias there and seems to have the situation under control, but the big question is, what is moscow's end game in all of this. what do they want to achieve? clearly, the crimean peninsula
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is very important to them. they fought hard for it in world war ii as well as militarily, strategically, to have that big military base there and of course, the majority of the population is not only russian leaning, but is in fact russian, wolf. >> that's absolutely true. in the eastern part of ukraine, mostly ethnic russians. they feel close to russia. as we're all getting to learn more about this country. it's approaching 10:15 p.m. in moscow right now. what's been the reaction specifically to that statement from the president of the united states warning the ruggens if they intervene militarily, this will be a price? there will be a cost to russia. how is that playing over there in russia? there was a lot of anger about it. members of parliament who called
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for russia to recall its ambassador to the u.s. that's something the russian president's office has said they're going to call on at this point. that is sort of a side show in that. where as the main business of course, is the situation in ukraine. doesn't seem as though the situation has deteriorated to that point yet. but in putin's callations, the pressure coming from the u.s., that is no the decision factor at this point in time. putin is under pressure to have a tough stance on the issue. if there were any sort of thing that happens in the peninsula, if ukraine forces trieded to take it back, if any russians were to die in anything like that, the russians could not scale back from a larger
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interventi intervention, so putin wants to seem tough on this issue. there's a lot of russians in the public that want him to do that. it seems as though all the things coming out of the international community, the threat of a boycott of the g8 meeting in sochi is something that pales into comparison if russia loses its face into the -- any sort of harm. that would be a very, very big blow to putin. >> in moscow, the situation unfolding. we're going to await to see what happens in washington, looks like the top leaders, the national security advisers for the president just wrapped up a meeting at the west wing of the white house. we'll see who emerges to speak on behalf of the obama administration. we're continuing our break iing news coverage right here in the cnn news room. ♪
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once again, i'm wolf blitzer reporting. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. there are major developments unfolding now in ukraine. and the united nations security counsel in new york is going to hold who's being described as an urgent meeting at the top of the hour. 2:00 p.m. eastern here in the united states. moments ago, we saw several members of the president's national security team leaving the white house. they met in the west wing of the white house. we expect to get information fairly soon. several hours ago, russia's parliament approved the use of military force, telling russian state tv that russian has not made the decision to use military force or on whether to recall the russian ambassador to the united states, something russia's parliament asked for
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today. ukraine's government has condemned the use of military force, i'm quoting now, direct aggression. and the opposition leader has called for the parliament to convene right away. let's go to crimea, a heavily russian region of the country. it's been tense there since ukraine's president was voted out of office last week. what's the latest there, diana? >> reporter: hi, wolf, well, the question is, whether the authorization of troops is just de facto authorizing what's already happening here or whether the russian president is going to be sending in more troops because frankly, if you look at what's happened over the last two days, it's almost like a kind of coup, expect these forces on the ground, gunmen,
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who are strongly present and visible today, surrounding all the government buildings here, they have surrounded airport facilities and i talked to them today. we were unclear whether they were definitively russian troops and i asked one of them today, where are you from and he probably accidentally went, i am from russia. what they've done on thursday a pro russian new leader was elected to rule this region. now, the whole city is affected backed by these gunmen. all day today, there are rallies held by pro russian supporters. you would hardly believe walking the streets today there are people in crimea, a very ethnically diverse region, who don't want to simply belong to russia.
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and they've brought forward, the date of a referendum to march. when crimea will decide whether it wants to stay part of ukraine or be its own separate state. so this appears to be a situation that's been heavily engineered and massaged by russia in any case. >> and crimea, being such a strategically important region in that whole area, is it really possible that such a vote would allow crimea to succeed while the ukraine becomes an independent country? is that really realistic? >> i don't think it will become part of russia, but let's look back at the history. russia give ukraine only in 1954, so i talked to people today, i'm russian, i was born in the soviet union.
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i was handed over to ukraine in the same way this man said to me in 1954. i feel russian. i love ukraine, but who wants to be handed over like that? being in a strong successionist impulse in this region for a long time and russia seems to be giving a helping hand to those in this region who want their awe tutonomy and don't want to governed by a western looking peer. >> all right, diana, we're going to get back to you soon and get the latest information. stand by. we'll take a quick break. much more of the significant news unfolding right now. this is a real tense moment. echoes of the cold war clearly unfolding between the u.s., o europeans on the one hand, russia on the other hand. ukraine, crimea, right in the middle of this crisis. we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] a classic macaroni & cheese from stouffer's starts with freshly-made pasta, and 100% real cheddar cheese.
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a lot of fast moving developments unfolding now. we're going to try to attempt to put some of this into context. it's a complex situation, put in the words of the former u.s. ambassador to russia. it's a dire situation right now. let's bring in the director for russian studies from georgetown.
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thanks very much for joining us. i know you've met with president putin some ten times. you've got a new book entitled the limits of partnership, u.s. russian relations in the 21st century that just came out. what do you make of what's going on in ukraine right now, specifically putin's latest moves threatening direct military intervention? >> the main goal for putin is to protect russia's ek quitieequit. i think the russians got concerned this new government in kiev might revisit the agreement, which now doesn't expire until 2042, but he is showing that russia's tough. i think it's no coincidence that just after the u.s. president said there will be costs to an invasion, you then get the request if the parliament to approve the use of more forces going there.
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saying crimea really is pro russian and even though i think what he wants to happen is what happened in georgia and moldova, that you're going to have a de facto staple there that's going to operate free of anything that happens in kiev, is going to be allied with russia and guarantee 20 years ago has now been compromised. >> would crimea in effect succeed from ukraine? >> i think in a de facto way, it probably would. maybe not legally. it wouldn't join russia. i don't think that's going to happen, but it would in fact govern itself, be closely tieded to russia. there will be russian troops there. because of the black sea fleet, so it will operate really as an autonomous region and as your reporters have said, crimea was not historically part of a
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ukraine state and their ties to russia go back hundreds of years. >> so, the statement the president of the united states made, there will be costs if russia militarily intervenes. some are are suggesting that sort of puts putin on the defensive for his own domestic reasons to show he's in charge. he then has to respond with a strong response to the american president. is that your reading? >> i think that's part of it, but i think russia was any way going to seize this opportunity with the revolution in ukraine. 60% of the people who live in crimea are russian. he was going to see this opportunity to strengthen russia's hand there and to encourage the crimeans because what he doesn't want is a territorily intact part of
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europe. so, i think he would have done that any way. i think maybe the timing of these various statements may have to do with what the u.s. president said, but this is and it does play in the russian audience, but he would have done that any way. >> stand by if you can because i want to bring in cnn's fareed zakari. he's joining us on the phone right now. fareed, this is a fast moving situation. we just saw the top national security advisers for the president leaving the west wing of the white house. they have urgent meetings going on right now. what are the u.s. onptions in dealing with this crisis? >> there could be for example, ukraine could ask for nato consultations. the g8 meeting is coming up. the president were to coordinate with some of the european county tris, if the president and angela merkel would not go, that
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means you have no meeting. frankly, probably japan could be persuaded as well, then you don't have the big economies of the world. i think there's things we could do with regard to the areas around ukraine. you know, poland, the czech republic. they have always sort stronger military ties with nato. missile defense system. the important thing to remember though is we should be measured and careful because this is not any kind of a triumph for putin. this is putin's nightmare. he is ukraine, which has been for 300 years, part of russia, being severed off, joining the west. yes, he's desperately trying to find a way to keep crimea. even in crimea, there are lots of nonrussians. this is going to change the
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relationship russia has with all its neighbors. poland, czech republic, of course, ukraine, it's going to change the relations with europe. all in which is negative for russia. how ever we view this, john mccain and others, some kind of putin's master plan. this is a nightmarish situation with putin is losing ukraine and is desperately trying to salvage something out of it. >> because as you know, the chris ims of putin, especially in the united states, they've been arguing that putin's desires to recreate if you will, a new soviet union, russia with its influence throughout eastern europe in all of those area of the former soviet union. you don't necessarily buy that. >> i don't think he is a nice man at all.
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his main reason has been at home, establishing a kind of dictatorship and creating a democracy where he and his associates could mooch the russian economy. his foreign policy moves have not been that dramatic. there's the cause, the invasion of georgia, which was to take the two pro russian pieces of, tiny pieces of georgia. as i say here, he much preferred the situation he had two weeks ago, where he dominated ukraine, but informally. the fact he now has to wrestle control, literally detach crimea from ukraine, is a nightmarish situation for him. he'll do it and i think we should oppose it and do the
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kinds of things i was describing. i think we should suspend russia from the g8 if this continues, but correct me if i'm wrong t s but i don't think this adds up to a victory for putin. it's going to negatively affect relations with germany, the european union and the united states. >> we're showing viewers from yesterday, this video. russian military helicopters flying over crimea yesterday, an ominous sign that clearly got a lot of people very, very nervous, including causing the president of the united states to go out and make that strong statement nearly th lly 24 hour. we're standing by at the top of the hour, the united nations security counsel is supposed to meet in a session, a statement from ban ki-moon's spokesman. there's limits to what the u.s.
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security counsel can do because russia after all has a veto. if there's any antirussian resolution that's going to be vetoed. >> there is zero chance that anything will come out of the u.n. security counsel because the russians will veto it. this does remind one of the cold war. that the u.n. security counsel was essentially rendered ir irreleva irrelevant. here, we have a classic situation like that. whatever happens here is going to happen outside of the u.n. i hope the obama administration is not really wasting much time trying to work thing that the united nations. it's a fool's errand. the best thing would be to start consultations with our allies, japan, possibly china, which would also be, i mean, chinese have usually taken a very tough line on the sovereignty of
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states. that is to say they do not like situations where the sovereignty of a state is violated. well, ukraine's sovereignty is being violated right now. >> one final question before i let you go. yesterday, we heard speaking of nato, from the former nato supreme commander, an organization that i haven't heard of in a long time, partnership for peace, which allows ukraine to have some sort of relationship with nato. he should they should implement that, the government in kiev, they should implement that so-called partnership for peace resolution and get nato involved. what do you make of it? >> it was a kind of nato like, for nonnato members. countries like ukraine, which were not part of nato, were given almost associate membership. i think that the danger there
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and probably the reason the ukraine yan government has not done something about it is look, the reality is that ukraine is right next to one of the largest armed forces in the world. the russian army. if ukraine were to do something provocative militarily, like try to, go to nato and say, you know, protect us, and the russians were to invade, what exactly would nato do? what does wesley clark then suggest nato do? there's a great danger of using threats in international relations. if you're called on them, you have to deliver is he suggesting that nato would then send an armed force to protect ukraine against russia? that would require literally hundreds and hundreds of thousands of troops and where would they come from? i think they are being somewhat careful. i think there's certainty here for nato and the european union,
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but before we start ratcheting these things up and drawing lines in the sand, i think it's important to figure out what happens if a line is crossed. are you willing to do what you're saying you're willing to do? >> i think you make an excellent point. thanks very much. don't forget to watch fareed's show sunday mornings, 10:00 a.m. eastern, also 1:00 p.m. eastern. obviously very important show on this sunday. we're going to continue our breaking news coverage. we're waiting for a statement from the united nations. the spokesman for the u.n. ban ki-moon, is expected to make a statement. we'll have that for you. also a meeting of the security counsel. stand by for that. all of the ambassadors from the u.n. security counsel, they are now there at the united nations. we're also waiting, i anticipate there will be some sort of statement coming from the obama administration. the president's top national security advisers just wrapped
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unfolding right now in ukraine. the united nations security counsel is also going to hold an urgent meeting on the situation at the top of the hour. 2:00 p.m. eastern. all of this was set in motion earlier today after russian parliament approved the use of military force in ukraine. since then, president putin's long-term adviser said he has not yet made a decision on whether to use that force and also made a decision on whether to recall the russian ambassador to the united states, something russia's parliament asked for. calling ilt direct aggression and the opposition leader has called for ukraine's parliament to convene right away. president obama addressed possible military action when he spoke yesterday. he also said there would be r reprecussions for any russian action. >> my movements taken by the
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russian federation inside the ukraine. russia has an historic relationship with ukraine, including cultural and economic ties and a military facility in crimea, but any violation would be deeply destabilizing. >> just in the last hour, the president met with his top national security adviser at the white house. there you see some of them leaving the white house of the white house. the meeting includes the defense secretary, cia director. no word yet on what came of that meeting. general dempsey, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staffs was also there. let's bring in jim, he's here with me watching what's going on. it's a fast moving situation and we're getting reaction from the nato secretary general. he's urging russia, calm down, don't do anything rash, but world leaders are very, very nervous. >> no question. it's fast moving and you can see how quickly these types of
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events can spin out of control. you have a lot of tit for tat movements happening. the upper house that has called on russia to withdraw its ambassador from the u.s. this happens at a time when our own ambassador has just left there three or four days ago, so those lines of communication which are essential in times like this, you have that potential handicap. you also have our other allies in the region getting nervous. latvia, lithuania, the baltic states have asked for article four consultations, it's not five, which asked to defend members, it's a step below that, where they want to have consultations to see what measures would be taken and this shows how this thing that is happening, the easily affect other parts. latvia and lithuania, again, on europe's doorstep. shows how quickly it can spin
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out of control and effect our closest allies. >> it's true in this kind of situation, for every action, there's an often unequal reaction and the russians are proud, if they sense they're being warned by the u.s. or nato or europeans, putin will respond for his own domestic political reasons to show he's not weak or anything along those lines. so you've got to finesse a crisis like this very carefully. >> difficult principles meeting in the white house a short time ago and remember, you talk about the warnings. there have been very public, loud warnings and when you see this move today, first of all, the troops going in yesterday and now, the russian parliament's move, in effect, a public confirmation of russia's intentions, which applies to all of the ukraine. these things are happening in defiance of severe and stern
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u.s. warnings. that's in affront to the president of the united states. to the u.s. that dynamic is very dangerous. very difficult and i'm sure it's causing difficult conversations inside the white house. >> and the president says there will be a cost to any kind of military invasion if you will, of ukraine. he's leaving it vague right now. he's not spelling out what that cost would mean. >> he mentioned a couple of things yesterday. white house officials mentioned the possibility -- >> he didn't. >> he let them, unnamed sources, still, this was something being considered. nicholas burns, former senior u.s. diplomat, mentioned the possibility of expelling russia from the g8. we haven't heard any of that coming out of the white house, but these are people who advise the white house and have been involved in the situations before. we're not even at the point where they've said they won't attend the g8 conference in
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sochi. these costs to this point, still very much undefined. >> jim's going to stick around. he's got a lot of work to do. all of us are watching the situation unfold. stand by. we're going to take a quick break. we're going to get more reaction, standing by, a statement coming from the united nations, ban ki-moon expected to release a statement. we're also waiting to see if president obama or other top officials go out and speak following this emergency principles meeting. president's top national security adviser just wrapped up a meeting in the west wing of the white house. our coverage continues right after this. ameriprise asked people a simple question: in retirement, will you outlive your money? uhhh. no, that can't happen. that's the thing, you don't know how long it has to last. everyone has retirement questions. so ameriprise created the exclusive.. confident retirement approach. now you and your ameripise advisor can get the real answers you need.
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now the breaking news continues to unfold from ukraine, serious tensions escalating right now specifically between the u.s. and europeans on one hand and russia on the other hand. we're waiting for a statement from the united nations secretary general, also we'll see if one of president obama's top advisors going before the cameras to make a u.s. statement as well. in the meantime, let's bring in sir tony brenton in london, he's brought in via skype. tell us what your analysis is, are you as concerned as u.s. officials are right now about this escalating crisis involving
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potential russian military engagement ukraine? >> it looks bad, it looks as if the russians are intent on occupation of crimea. it could very rapidly spread to the begins of a civil war in ukraine if we don't act quite swiftly to get things under control? >> when you say we, what can the rest of the world doing? what can britain, the u.s. allies, what can they do right now. >> the russians are doing what they are doing because they're infuriated at being squeezed out of the the -- back towards their planned agreement with the eu. we need to be getting together with the russians and setting up political process which gives them a clear role in the future
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of ukraine. i hope that the u.s. government and european governments will be calling for a very early conference together with russia together with the ukrainians to chart a way forward, which gives the russians the assurance that their essential interests will be taken into account. >> chief national security correspondent ambassador jim sciuto is with me. he a's got a question for you. >> ambassador brent, thanks very much, we have been hearing from the white house the last 24 hours that one potential cost on the table is to boycott the june g-8 conference in sochi. is it your view that the uk would join such a boycott? and i wonder, moving forward as this situation potentially gets worse, could further steps be on the table, more severe steps including expelling russia from the g-8? >> i'm sure the uk would join such a boycott. i expect getting russian expelled from the g-8 could be a little bit more difficult.
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although if the russians continue to -- all of this feels like pin pricks in comparison with russia a's very strong interests in having it's concerns taken into account in ukraine. ukraine is the foreign country from a russian point of view which is closest to. they have real concerns about what's happened there in the last few weeks, and real concern that they believe is -- and a real determination to make sure that their interests are taken into account in the future. >> do they really dwebelieve th the u.s., the west, plotted what's going on in ukraine right now, the opposition to russia? is that really seen as some sort of conspiracy that the u.s. may have plotted against russia? >> what we're seeing is a repeat of the orange revolution of 2004. i was in moscow as british ambassador in 2004 and there was absolutely no doubt that the
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russian authorities at the time saw the dark hangd. >> ambassador hold on a second, we're getting a statement from the u.n. spokesman. >> territorial integrity of the ukraine. he calls for an immediate restoration of calm and immediate dialogue among all concerned to solve the current crisis. the secretary general will be speaking with president vladimir putin about the situation in ukraine. as the secretary general is about to fly to europe, he has asked the deputy secretary general to as tend today's security council session to brief members of the council on developments in ukraine. that's what i have for you, i'm happy to take a couple of questions. yes, please. >> martin, is there any feedback from the secretary general's special envoy robert terry from kiev, is he -- will he go to
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crimea or has he met with other leaders? >> well, robert sury intends to go to geneva tomorrow so that we can brief the secretary general directly. he had wanted to visit crimea, but this proved to be logistically difficult and therefore he has opted to go to geneva as initially planned and this will be to brief the secretary general directly. of course, there have been telephone conversations including this morning, about the rapidly unfolding events in ukraine. and i can tell you that as i've said, the secretary general is gravely concerned and will continue to monitor this very closely. >> and just as a quick follow-up, has secretary general made any statement or feel any way about the territorial integrity of ukraine, vis-a-vis
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any kind of troops movements of russia? >> the secretary general has reiterated and called for full respect for and the independence and territorial integrity of ukraine. in fact this is something that we have heard from right across the spectrum of views on what is happening in ukraine. there was a clear view in the council yesterday, if not on many other matters, certainly there was a clear view about the territorial integrity of ukraine, as i understand it. >> and do you have anything specific to say about the decision of the russian parliament? >> we have seen the reports, but we don't have any specific comment at the moment. i mean, at the moment, the key
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factor here is the restoration of calm and direct dialogue. what we need now is on all sides in this matter, cool heads and really a calm approach to this. yes? >> thank you, martin. there are some reports that the leader of the radical opposition on the ukraine called for leader of chechen terrorists to support ukrainian opposition against russia. does the secretary general have anything to say on this development? >> look, there are all kinds of reports, some more credible than others. floating about in cyberspace. and i think that we continue to monitor these developments closely. we're aware of various r